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International Rice Research Institute April-June 2006, Vol. 5, No. 2 a

Mekong special
Lao rice revolution
Linking rice and livestock
Opposites attract
Hunting genes for hardier rice

The direct approach

Moving away from transplanting in South Asia
ISSN 1655-5422
 contents
Vol. 5, No. 2

WHY IS THERE AN INTERNATIONAL

RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE? ............................... 4

DONORS CORNER ..................................................... 5

Reducing poverty through agricultural
development: Japan’s new Official Development
Assistance Charter recognizes the importance of
agricultural development for poverty reduction

NEWS ......................................................................... 6
Iron-rich rice reduces malnutrition
Crop development efforts get major boost
Nutrient management online
Indian president visits IRRI
Open-source biotechnology alliance
Rice farming by SMS
Production shortfall looming
Water conservation boosted
African rice news
Zero tillage in India
Postharvest management to reduce burning
Making a ripple

PEOPLE ................................................................... 11
Achievements BACK TO THE FUTURE ............................................ 28 RICE FACTS .............................................................. 41
Smallholders who integrate rice farming with Drought perpetuates poverty
Keeping up with IRRI staff livestock are the mainstay of traditional
Gone ahead agriculture in the Greater Mekong Subregion—
and a model for sustainable development GRAIN OF TRUTH .................................................... 42
Work needed to weed out farmers’ problems
THE DIRECT APPROACH ......................................... 12
A return to the ways of their forefathers has OPPOSITES ATTRACT … ATTENTION .................... 34
seen Indian and Bangladeshi rice farmers Researchers zero in on two genes at opposite
reduce their need for water and address the ends of the rice genome that provide tolerance The cover photo shows
growing problem of labor shortages for a dreaded duo of widespread stresses, high Alya, a Bangladeshi
salinity and phosphorus deficiency farmer benefitting
from a different
SNAPSHOT .........................................................19-21 approach to planting
Claiming rice fields from wild rivers rice—see page 12.

GENUINELY LAO ..................................................... 22

The story of the project that revolutionized rice
production in Lao PDR

cover photo Adam Barclay International Rice Research Institute

publisher Duncan Macintosh DAPO Box 7777, Metro Manila, Philippines
editor Adam Barclay Web (IRRI): www.irri.org
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designer and production supervisor George Reyes Web (Rice Knowledge Bank): www.knowledgebank.irri.org
contributing editors Gene Hettel, Bill Hardy
news editor Juanito Goloyugo Rice Today editorial
photo editor Ariel Javellana telephone (+63-2) 580-5600 or (+63-2) 844-3351 to 53, ext 2725;
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Rice Today is published by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the world’s
leading international rice research and training center. Based in the Philippines and with
offices in 11 other countries, IRRI is an autonomous, nonprofit institution focused on
improving the well-being of present and future generations of rice farmers and consumers,
particularly those with low incomes, while preserving natural resources. IRRI is one of
15 centers funded through the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
(CGIAR), an association of public and private donor agencies. For more information, visit
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Responsibility for this publication rests with IRRI. Designations used in this publication
should not be construed as expressing IRRI policy or opinion on the legal status of any
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Copyright International Rice Research Institute 2006
 DONORS CORNER
Reducing poverty through
agricultural development
by Takeshi Mizoguchi
I
n August 2003, the govern-
ment of Japan revised its Of-
ficial Development Assistance
(ODA) Charter for the first time
in 11 years. Since then, Japan has
developed its ODA in line with the
new charter, which puts forward
five basic policies outlined below.
Supporting self-help efforts of
developing countries is the most
important philosophy of Japan’s
ODA. Accordingly, Japan respects
developing countries’ ownership of
development strategies and priori-
ties. Japan intends to provide sup-
port in fields such as human resource
development; institution building,
including the development of legal
systems; and economic and social
infrastructure building. These themes
constitute the basis for development.
To address direct threats to
people such as conflicts, disasters,
and infectious diseases, Japan at-
taches particular importance to the
Perspective of human security, which
focuses on individuals.
Japan aims to implement
ODA that will strengthen
the capacity of local com-
munities through human
resource development.
To ensure that human
dignity is maintained at
all stages, from conflict to
reconstruction and devel-
opment, Japan’s goal is to
help protect and empower individuals.
Assurance of fairness—in
the formulation and implementa-
tion of assistance—ensures that
the outcome of ODA fairly benefits
the people of recipient countries.
In this light, Japan emphasizes
environmental and social consider-
ations as well as gender equality.
The Utilization of Japan’s experi-
ence and expertise is an important
policy in which Japan’s experience
in economic and social development,
as well as in economic coopera-
tion, is used when assisting devel-
oping countries. This policy also
emphasizes the need to use Japan’s
advanced technologies, expertise,
human resources, and institutions.
Partnership and collaboration
with the international community
are important if the international
community is to share common
development goals and strategies
through the initiatives of interna-
tional organizations. Japan will play
an active role in any international
dialogues that feature Japanese as-
sistance strategies and philosophies.
In accordance with the basic poli-
cies set out above, Japan is tackling
four priority issues—poverty reduc-
tion, sustainable growth, addressing
global issues, and peace-building.
In developing countries—where
approximately 70% of the poor live
in rural areas and depend on agricul-
tural production—agricul-
tural and rural develop-
ment allow the rural poor
to generate income and so
lead to sustainable eco-
nomic growth and poverty
reduction. Agriculture can
also contribute to the
United Nations Millen-
nium Development Goals
by providing the poor, in
both rural and urban areas, with
affordable food. And, through ap-
propriate management of land, water,
and wastes, agriculture can promote
environmental sustainability.
Recognizing the importance of
agricultural development for poverty
reduction, Japan has consistently
been a major supporter in this area.
In 2003, Japan’s ODA in agriculture
amounted to US$783 million—the
Rice Today April-June 2006
MOFA
TAKESHI MIZOGUCHI is a deputy director of the
Aid Planning Division of the Economic Cooperation
Bureau of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
largest contribution among bilateral
donors, accounting for nearly 40%
of total assistance. Japan’s three-
pronged strategy on agricultural de-
velopment is, first, to support capacity
building of farmers and the govern-
ment; second, to raise productivity
through infrastructure development
and agricultural technologies; and
third, to link farmers to markets.
The development of new agri-
cultural technologies will play an
increasingly important role in raising
both agricultural productivity and
the nutritional value of food while
at the same time placing a lighter
burden on land and water. To enable
progress in these areas, Japan has
attached high priority to coopera-
tion with the Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research
(CGIAR), including the International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI).
The Japan-IRRI partner-
ship, which spans more than four
decades, is especially strong and
fruitful. Japan’s long involvement
in rice research has yielded numer-
ous successes and had a lasting and
positive impact on the lives of count-
less people. Many Japanese scientists
have worked at and collaborated with
IRRI on research that spans some of
the most crucial issues in the rice-
growing and rice-consuming world.
Japan’s agricultural research insti-
tutes have also cooperated closely
with IRRI in facing these challenges.
Japan looks forward to continu-
ing to work with developing countries
and the organizations—includ-
ing IRRI and the CGIAR—whose
goal is to reduce poverty through
agricultural development.
5
 NEWS
Iron-rich rice reduces malnutrition
B reeding rice with higher levels of iron can
have an important impact on reducing
micronutrient malnutrition, according to
a new study in the December 2005 issue
of the Journal of Nutrition. The research,
conducted by scientists from the Philippines
and the U.S., is a major step forward in the
battle against iron deficiency, a debilitat-
ing and intractable public health problem
affecting nearly 2 billion people in the
developing world.
The lead authors of the article, Jere
Haas from the Division of Nutritional Sci-
ences at Cornell University, John Beard and
Laura Murray-Kolb from the Department
of Nutritional Sciences at Pennsylvania
State University, Angelita del Mundo and
Angelina Felix from the University of the
Philippines Los Baños, and Glenn Gregorio
from IRRI (pictured with an iron-rich rice
panicle), oversaw a study in which religious
sisters in ten convents in the Philippines
included nutritionally enhanced rice in
their diets. After 9 months, the women had
significantly higher levels of total body iron
in their blood.
The iron-dense variety of rice used
in the research (known technically as
Crop development efforts get major boost
T he long, arduous, and expensive pro-
cess of developing new crop varieties
has received a major boost with the joint
launch in Mexico and the Philippines of a
new scientific program and facilities that
unite key databases and research on the
planet’s three most important crops—rice,
wheat, and maize.
The joint venture between two of the
world’s leading agricultural research cen-
ters—the Philippines-based International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the In-
ternational Maize and Wheat Improvement
Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico—is the first
major output of an alliance between IRRI
and CIMMYT that was formally established
last year.
The new lab at CIMMYT will link with
existing facilities at IRRI to form the Crop
Research Informatics Lab (CRIL), heralding
exciting new possibilities for rice research,
especially in the development of improved
crop varieties. It is expected that the en-
deavor will not only reduce the time needed
to develop new crop varieties by drawing
on the three crops’ shared characteristics
but also reduce the cost of such research.
Researchers anticipate that as data are ex-
panded and linked and databases improved,
research in areas such as natural resource
6 Rice Today April-June 2006
ARIEL JAVELLANA
IR68144-3B-2-2-3) was developed and
grown at IRRI. The research initiative was
originally spearheaded and funded by the
Washington-based International Food
Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), with sup-
management and climate change will also
benefit.
CRIL scientists are already working
on the development of a single crop infor-
mation system and comparative biology
infrastructure for rice, wheat, and maize
that will greatly assist in the development
of new crop varieties. The three staples
provide 60% of global food needs annually,
and cover more than 70% of the planet’s
productive cropping land.
Bioinformatics specialists Guy Daven-
port from CIMMYT and Richard Bruskie-
wich from IRRI say that “Rice forms an
ideal model for this research because of its
small, sequenced genome. Maize represents
an excellent platform for trait studies due
to its outbreeding nature and long his-
tory of substantial public and private sector
investment. Finally, wheat represents a
complementary cereal model by virtue of
its relatively close relationship to rice and
extensive genetic information.”
According to Graham McLaren, head of
the CRIL team and IRRI’s senior scientist in
biometrics, “This system will be especially
useful for researchers in poorer developing
countries who may not normally have access
to such detailed information on so many
different varieties.”
port from the Asian Development Bank and
the Micronutrient Initiative. HarvestPlus,
an international research program focused
on breeding crops for better nutrition and
led by IFPRI and the International Center
for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), will use the
research findings and work with partners to
increase the level of nutrient density in rice
to be even more effective.
Through a process known as “biofor-
tification,” plant breeders are developing
staple foods with higher levels of essential
micronutrients. This study demonstrates
that iron-biofortified rice can raise levels
of stored iron in the body and can signifi-
cantly contribute to reducing micronutrient
malnutrition.
“We view this study as a ‘proof of con-
cept,’” said IRRI Director General Robert
Zeigler. “We now know that, if plants are
bred with higher levels of iron and other
micronutrients, they will improve the nutri-
tional status of people who consume them.
This has dramatic implications.”
“In the past, we relied on supplements
and fortification to overcome vitamin and
mineral deficiencies,” said Howarth Bouis,
director of HarvestPlus. “Now we know that
biofortification also works, giving us an ad-
ditional tool in this crucial battle.”
Nutrient management online
I RRI has launched a Web site that pro-
vides information on the principles and
practices of site-specific nutrient manage-
ment (SSNM) for rice in irrigated and
favorable rainfed systems. By mid-2006,
the site is scheduled to contain guidelines
and training materials for the development
of locally adapted SSNM recommenda-
tions for any rice-producing area. IRRI
scientists refined the SSNM concept from
2001 to 2004 in partnership with national
agricultural research and extension systems
(NARES). Visit the new site at www.irri.
org/irrc/ssnm.
Indian president visits IRRI
I n a historic, first-ever visit to the Inter-
national Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
by an Indian head of state, President A.P.J.
Kalam placed special emphasis on using
science and technology to help his country’s
millions of poor rice farmers.
On 5 February, as part of an official visit
to the Philippines—the first by an Indian
president in 15 years—President Kalam
was briefed on a range of new technologies
aimed at boosting farmer productivity.
“We were honored and delighted by
the Indian presidential visit,” said IRRI
Director General Robert Zeigler. “What was
especially impressive about his time at IRRI
was how productive it was—we managed to
discuss a number of very important issues in
depth and to agree to move ahead in several
key areas.”
Dr. Zeigler said the president was
particularly interested in the development
of nutritionally enhanced rice varieties and
connecting Indian farmers to the Internet.
“We also agreed to develop plans to send
50 Indian rice farmers on a special visit to
IRRI so they can see the technologies being
developed,” Dr. Zeigler said.
In comments to IRRI scientists, Presi-
Open-source biotechnology alliance
I RRI and CAMBIA have agreed to advance
the BiOS Initiative—a new strategy that
will galvanize agricultural research focused
on poverty alleviation and hunger reduc-
tion—under a US$2.55 million grant from
the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Based in Canberra, Australia, CAMBIA is an
independent nonprofit institute that invents
and shares technologies and new practices
for life sciences and intellectual property
management to further social equity.
The BiOS (Biological Innovation for
Open Society) Initiative is also known as
Open-Source Biotechnology. The BiOS
model has resonance with the Open-Source
software movement—well known for suc-
cesses such as Linux—and has spurred faster
innovation, greater community participa-
tion, and new robust business models that
break monopolies and foster fair competi-
tion.
“New technologies are increasingly
tangled in complex webs of patent and
other legal rights, and are often tailored for
wealthy countries and well-heeled scien-
tists,” said IRRI Director General Robert
Zeigler. “Half the world depends on rice
as a staple food—but this also means that
half the world’s potential innovators could
be brought to bear on the challenges of rice
PRESIDENT A.P.J. Kalam (second from left)
during his visit to IRRI, flanked by IRRI
Director General Robert Zeigler (left),
Philippine International Trading Corp Chair
Robert Pagdanganan (second from right) and
senior scientist Roland Buresh.
dent Kalam said India had around 176 mil-
lion hectares of land currently available for
cultivation, which, he predicted, would be
reduced to 100 million hectares by 2020. He
also warned of a looming water crisis and
that the next generation of Indian farmers
was losing interest in agriculture.
IRRI’s senior economist, Mahabub
Hossain, highlighted the impact of IRRI’s
earlier work in India, which showed that
48% of the rice varieties grown in India had
some link to IRRI materials.
production, given the right toolkits—and the
rights to use them.”
In the joint work, CAMBIA’s Patent
Lens, already one of the most comprehen-
sive cost-free full-text patent databases
in the world, will be extended to include
patents in major rice-growing countries,
including China, Korea, and India, which
are poised to play lead roles in the next gen-
eration of biological problem solving.
Patent Lens will also foster capacity
in the developing world to create patent
maps of the key emerging technologies
that could be constrained by complex intel-
lectual property rights worldwide. These
patent “landscapes” will be used to guide
the development of improved and inclusive
technology toolkits.
“It’s not so much about getting access
to old patented technology—it’s about forg-
ing collaborations to develop better, more
powerful tools within a ‘protected commons’
to get different problem solvers to the table,”
said CAMBIA CEO Richard Jefferson.
These could, for example, be tools
for new plant breeding methods such as
marker-assisted selection or true-breeding
hybrid crop varieties that would allow farm-
ers in developing countries to use hybrid
seed year after year.
Rice Today April-June 2006
ARIEL JAVELLANA
“However,” he said, “India’s success
in raising rice productivity and reducing
poverty has been limited to favorable envi-
ronments in the country’s north and south,
while sustaining high yields in irrigated
systems has become a major issue.”
Dr. Hossain also highlighted the prog-
ress of an IRRI-India collaborative effort
to develop drought-tolerant varieties that
are expected to have a substantial impact
on increasing productivity and reducing
poverty in eastern India.
Rice farming by SMS
A mobile phone text-messaging service
designed to connect Filipino farmers
and extension workers with rice-farming
technical experts has been developed by the
Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture.
With assistance from Smart Communica-
tions, farmers send questions to 700-RICE
(700-7423). Philippine Rice Research In-
stitute experts then reply within 24 hours.
Topics of expertise include fertilizer and nu-
trient management, hybrid rice production,
pest and crop management, the latest rice
varieties, and available seed stocks. Farm-
ers can even enroll in a virtual classroom.
A 12 January report in the Philippine Star
said the Farmers’ Call Center averages 500
queries per month.
JOSE RAYMOND PANALIGAN
7
 NEWS
Production shortfall looming
BAGS of imported rice
from Vietnam being
unloaded at Manila’s
south harbor.
ARIEL JAVELLANA
A December 2005 Dow Jones Newswire
report by Rhea Sandique-Carlos high-
lighted the continuation of high rice prices
in Asia in the face of declining production
in the world’s two most populous nations,
China and India. According to the report,
global rice stocks, which are already dimin-
ishing, will be further strained in 2006.
Mahabub Hossain, head of IRRI’s Social
Sciences Division, commented on China’s
impending transition from rice exporter to
importer. “There has been less and less land
allocated to rice cultivation because farmers
see a lot of opportunity for nonrice crops,
such as fruits and vegetables, because of
growth in income. China simply can’t come
back to its surplus position,” he said.
The report added that India is in a simi-
lar situation, exacerbated by many farmers’
dependence on monsoon rains. Dr. Hossain
Boost for reductions campaign
The Three Reductions, Three Gains—Ba
Giam Ba Tang in Vietnamese—continues to
receive support from the Vietnamese Minis-
try of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The ministry has allocated US$434,000 of
the country’s 2006 agricultural extension
budget to Ba Giam Ba Tang, a strong in-
dication that the Vietnamese government
has adopted the campaign’s principles of
reducing farmers’ nitrogen-fertilizer rates,
seed rates, and pesticide applications.
Tsunami rehabilitation
The Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations and the World Food
Program have released a 2005 report on
food supply and demand in Indonesia’s
Aceh Province and Nias Island. The report
stated that, of the 37,500 hectares of farm-
land damaged by the 26 December 2004
tsunami, some 29,000 hectares have been
rehabilitated. Surplus production of rice
in Aceh is expected to be around 200,000
tons for the 2005-06 marketing year. In
spite of this, farmers in the heavily affected
8 Rice Today April-June 2006
said, “Unpredictability of weather patterns
makes it difficult for India to achieve its
previous level of production. Irrigation,
which accounts for 20–25% of production
cost, is a big problem.”
In Thailand, meanwhile, 2006 exports
are expected to drop to 7.2 million tons,
down about 0.3 million tons from 2005. The
2005 level is itself almost 30% lower than
2004’s record 10.1 million tons of exports.
According to Dow Jones, uncertain
global weather patterns are likely to keep
rice prices from falling. Mamadou Ciss,
managing director of the Geneva-based
global rice trading company Ascot Com-
modities, NV, was quoted as saying that
“the current situation anticipates a major
weather disaster [...] it could be an El Niño
or La Niña. Global temperature is getting
warmer and, based on temperature in
Brazil, Russia, Argentina, we are already
in a dry spell.”
Commenting on China’s current low
rice stocks, Ciss said: “If a major weather
catastrophe happens, that will take rice
prices to the moon.”
Gregorio Tan, administrator of the
Philippine National Food Authority, a state-
owned grains trading company, was re-
ported as saying that Philippine rice imports
in 2006 could hover around 1 million tons
despite record paddy output of around 14.5
million tons in 2005, when the country im-
ported 1.8 million tons of rice as dry weather
conditions limited domestic supply.
areas lost two consecutive seasons of paddy
production in 2005. The recovery process in
Nias and Simeulue on the northwest coast of
Sumatra has been slower than in Aceh.
Maize gene set to help rice
Kansas State University researchers, led by
Bingyu Zhao, have discovered a maize gene
that, when transferred to rice, confers resis-
tance to bacterial streak, an important dis-
ease of rice in Asia. As any particular cereal
species tends to be resistant to diseases of
other grasses, these results—reported in the
25 October 2005 issue of the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences of the
USA—suggest that transferring resistance
genes from one cereal to another may be a
feasible strategy for controlling diseases.
Iranian biotech lead
Iran made headlines recently by becoming
the first country to commercialize geneti-
cally modified rice. According to a 23 Janu-
ary report in the Washington Farm Report,
500–1,000 Iranian farmers are believed
to have grown the crop in 2005, with full
Water conservation support
T he Asian Development Bank has given
US$1 million toward the development
and dissemination of water-saving rice
technologies in the drought-prone and
water-short regions of South Asia.
The total cost of funding is estimated
at $2.306 million, with IRRI executing
the technical assistance and contributing
$566,000, while the national agricultural
research and extension systems (NARES) of
Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan are
shouldering $740,000 in the form of staff
time, land, and research facilities.
It takes around 3,000 liters of water to
produce a kilogram of rice. Twelve million
hectares of South Asia’s irrigated rice are at
risk of severe water shortage, with serious
consequences for regional food security and
social stability.
IRRI estimates that a 10% reduction
in water use for rice irrigation would free
150 billion cubic meters, or 25% of the total
fresh water used in Asia for nonagricultural
purposes.
As well as supporting the development
of new technologies based on improved
IRRI rice varieties, the technical assistance
will help the NARES to develop locally
adapted water-saving rice technologies,
sponsor visits to IRRI, organize an interna-
tional workshop, conduct a series of training
courses, and develop a regional network for
information exchange.
commercialization taking place this year on
20,000 hectares.
Rice malt genome sequenced
Japan’s Corporate News Network on 26
December reported the completion of the
genome sequencing of rice malt, Aspergillus
oryzae, a fungus widely used in Japanese
fermented foods, including sake, bean paste,
and soy sauce. The research—by a team of
scientists from the Institute for Biological
Resources and Functions, the Computation-
al Biology Research Center of the National
Institute of Advanced Industrial Science
and Technology, and the National Institute
of Technology and Evaluation—showed
that the A. oryzae genome has about 38
million base pairs and 12,000 genes. The
sequencing is expected to aid development
of applications for rice malt.
Infrared heat versus pesticides
Scientists from the University of Arkansas
Division of Agriculture are investigating
the use of infrared energy to kill insects in
stored rice, instead of pesticides. Northwest
African rice news
Prize for Africa Rice Center scientist
Moussa Sié, a lowland rice breed-
er from the Africa Rice Center
(WARDA), has become the first
African to receive the presti-
gious Koshihikari International
Rice Prize. Dr. Sié (pictured at
right), from Burkina Faso, was
recognized for “Development
and extension of lowland NERICAs
(New Rice for Africa) for sub-Saharan
Africa.” He shares the prize with Akihiko
Ando, visiting professor at São Paulo Uni-
versity Agricultural Nuclear Power Center
in Brazil, who was recognized for “Develop-
ment and dissemination of plant breeding
by mutation induction.”
Removing Gambian hurdles
The Daily Observer reported on 22 De-
cember significant progress made by the
National Agricultural Research Institute
in searching for technologies to allevi-
ate crop production constraints experi-
enced by farmers in Gambia. NARI, for
example, did research on restoring soil
fertility through agroforestry techniques,
developing suitable drought-tolerant crop
varieties, and promoting the production of
NERICA (New Rice for Africa). Musa Bala
Gaye, Secretary of State for Finance and
Economic Affairs, in his 2006 budget pre-
Arkansas’ News Source reported that food
science professor Terry Siebenmorgen and
biological engineer Derek Schluterman,
working with Frank Arthur of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, used infrared
light to heat weevil-infested rice samples
to temperatures of 50, 60, and 70 degrees
Celsius. They then incubated the infested
rice, including an untreated control sample,
for 6–7 weeks to see if weevils hatched out
of the rice. All weevils were killed at 70 de-
grees. The infrared treatment appeared to
have little effect on food quality or sensory
characteristics.
Changes to Malaysia’s rice fields
A corporatization plan pilot project, involv-
ing about 5,000 hectares of rice lands in
Kedah, Malaysia’s rice bowl, is scheduled to
begin in June 2006. A New Straits Times
editorial on 12 February, Sowing the seeds
of change, pointed out the plan’s benefits:
“Larger farms make more money, can
deploy assets for capital-intensive invest-
ment, and are more disposed to innovation
and professional management. By trading
sentation before the National Assembly,
noted that the country’s total paddy rice
production increased from 31,221 metric
tons in 2003-04 to 34,304 metric tons in
2004-05, which indicated an increment
of 10%.
Sierra Leone food security
The Awareness Times quoted High Com-
missioner Alhaji Morikeh Fofana on 2
February saying that, about 80% increases
were recorded in the production of paddy
rice, millet, and sweet potato in Sierra
Leone. “The agricultural data on rice pro-
duction indicates that about 40,000 acres
of land for rice cultivation is now available.
These are positive signs geared towards
a clear-cut reduction in the importation
land for shares in a joint-stock corporation,
farmers are given a choice, too. They can opt
to stay put or leave a dead-end occupation
with the surety of having equity in the bank.”
One of the first challenges is convincing
farmers that corporatization will make the
land more useful.
The king of rice
Taiwan Headlines reported on 25 Janu-
ary that 2005 champion rice farmer, Hsu
Pang-chun, 24, from Luyeh township in
Taidong, has been nicknamed Taiwan’s
“youngest king of rice” after winning third
place in a nationwide rice competition in
early January. Hsu began cultivating his
father’s rice paddies at the age of 13.
Doomsday seed bank
The Norwegian government plans to build a
“doomsday vault” inside a mountain on the
arctic island of Spitsbergen to hold a bank of
around 2 million seed samples of the world’s
crops, the Financial Times reported. The
move is designed to forestall the destruction
of the planet’s sources of food in the event
Rice Today April-June 2006
of rice into Si-
erra Leone. Food
security is thus
an economical
strategy. The
current trend of
rice production
in this nation is
setting the pace
for rice farmers
to be able to buy
equipment on
loan within the
next three years.
WARDA
The production
of rice is tedious.
It involves total commitment. Food secu-
rity is, however, a viable venture.”
Côte d’Ivoire stockpiles rice
Inter Press News Agency reported on 4
February that rice growers in Côte d’Ivoire,
with GTZ assistance, have stockpiled bags
of rice at a depot in Korhogo, a town in
northern Côte d’Ivoire, to prevent famine
and counter a major reduction in rice
imports. Also, according to the Ivorian
Bureau of Development Assistance Train-
ing, improvements to arable land produced
27,000 tons of irrigated rice twice a year in
the north. The Africa Rice Center (WARDA)
said that 8% of the Ivorian population grows
rice on an average plot of 0.8 hectare of ir-
rigated land.
of global catastrophes like nuclear war or
natural disasters. The Global Crop Diversity
Trust is organizing the seed collection.
First hydroponic rice
A group of farmers in Tokyo has, accord-
ing to a report in The Times, cultivated the
world’s first crop of hydroponically grown
rice. According to the story, “The 60 kilo-
grams of Koshihikari rice reaped yesterday
may fill only a single regulation-sized sack,
but its significance is huge. The rice has
grown to maturity without natural light or
a paddy field.” If the process can be com-
mercialized, says the group, farmers could
grow up to four rice crops per year and avoid
the vagaries of the weather.
Philippine hybrid rice benefits
A 9 December article in CropBiotech Update
stated that the Philippine government ben-
efited from its hybrid rice commercialization
program through savings of US$23.23 mil-
lion that would otherwise have been spent
on rice importation. The report, quoting
statistics from the Philippine Rice Research
9
 NEWS
Zero tillage in India
F armers from Haryana, Punjab, and other
parts of northern India have turned to
zero or minimum tillage in rice production
by using new machinery. Actually an old
concept adapted during the Green Revolu-
tion days, zero tillage is being promoted
by the Rice-Wheat Consortium (RWC) for
the Indo-Gangetic Plains, in partnership
with IRRI and the International Crops Re-
search Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.
The Asian Pacific Centre for Agricultural
DANIELE MARECHAL
EXOTIC BLACK RICE, such as the pictured Lao
variety, is growing in popularity in Solano, Nueva
Viscaya, Philippines, according to a 25 January
report in the Manila Standard Today. Black rice tends
to be more aromatic and sticky than usual com-
mercial varieties.
Institute research team, led by Flordeliza
Bordey, found that hybrid rice production
was one of the best options for increasing
farm productivity by 8% to 14%.
Hybrid rice lessons
The Manila Times reported in January that
European countries Boznia-Herzegovina,
Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Slo-
vak Republic, and Yugoslavia have adopted
the Hybrid Rice Commercialization Pro-
gram of Tarlac Province, Philippines. Agri-
culturists from the Western Corn Rootworm
Project in central and northern Europe
inspected the Tarlac rice program in 2002,
with support from the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations.
Best organic rice
“Ta ti organic rice,” grown in Chihshang
Township of Taidong County, was named
winner of Taiwan’s first national organic
rice-judging contest because of its luster
10
Engineering and Machinery is promoting
the development of new farm machinery.
India’s Financial Express reported on 26
December that farmers who use the tech-
nologies save an average of 2,000 rupees
(US$45) per acre (1 hectare is 2.47 acres) on
costs for labor and inputs. However, accord-
ing to the article, farmers are complaining
about the machines’ expense—even with a
25% government subsidy—and weeds. Sci-
entist Samar Singh, who works on the RWC
program, advised farmers to grow Sesbania
along with rice to help prevent weeds.
Making waves
T he Irrigated Rice Research Consortium
(IRRC) launched its new quarterly news-
letter, Ripple, in January. Ripple stands for
Rice Research for Intensified Production
and Prosperity in Lowland Ecosystems.
IRRC staff produced the newsletter to
enhance communication between national
agricultural research and extension systems
(NARES) and IRRI, and to raise the profile
of the IRRC in Asia and beyond. IRRC
Coordinator Grant Singleton encourages
contributions to the newsletter from anyone
working in the irrigated rice or favorable
rainfed agricultural domain, particularly
NARES partners and nongovernmental
organizations. Ripple is available online at
www.irri.org/irrc.
and pleasant eating qualities. “The contest
was aimed at rice producers who are able
to package organic polished white rice into
small amounts that can be sold at retail
outlets,” the Liberty Times reported on 7
December 2005.
Rice bran for healthier rats
Eating rice bran—part of the outer layer of
rice removed in the milling process—helps
lower rats’ blood pressure, according to a
study by researchers from Tohoku Univer-
sity and the National Research Institute of
Brewing, Japan. The findings were pub-
lished in the March 8 issue of the Journal of
Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Adding
rice bran to the diet of hypertensive, stroke-
prone rats lowered the animals’ systolic
blood pressure by about 20%. More research
is needed to determine whether humans ex-
perience similar health benefits, or whether
eating more brown rice, which retains some
of its bran, will have any effect.
Rice Today April-June 2006
Postharvest management
to reduce burning
EUGENE AQUINO (IRRI)
and Budi Raharjo
(Assessment Institute of
MARTIN GUMMERT
Agricultural Technology)
show trainees in Mulya
Sari village how to use
hermetically sealed grain
storage bags.
I n Indonesia, the Irrigated Rice Research
Consortium Postproduction workgroup
has joined forces with the Assessment In-
stitute for Agricultural Technology in South
Sumatra and the South Sumatra Forest Fire
Management Project in an effort to reduce
postharvest losses, improve the quality of
rice harvests, and increase farmers’ income
in the tidal and freshwater swamps of South
Sumatra, around 2 million hectares of which
are used to grow rice. Labor shortages dur-
ing harvest lead to production and quality
losses and often force farmers to use fire to
clear uplands to grow more crops. A training
workshop on 27-28 February led by IRRI’s
Agricultural Engineering Unit covered
topics on understanding rice quality and
improving seeds. The 35 participants also
learned how to set up and operate hermetic
sealed storage systems for safe seed storage.
Such improvements help overall produc-
tion and reduce the pressure to extend rice
production to the uplands.
Seeking salt-tolerant rice
Scientists at the Louisiana State University
Agricultural Center’s Rice Research Station
are seeking salt-tolerant rice as a result of
hurricane Rita, which ravaged Louisiana in
August 2005. An Associated Press report
said that researchers have started collecting
soil samples from 180 sites across south-
west Louisiana, where an estimated 200
thousand acres of rice land were affected
by Rita’s surge.
Careless offerings?
Chandigarh Newsline reported on 3 Janu-
ary that rats much bigger than usual are
causing nightmares for Manimajra housing
complex residents in Chandigarh, India.
The rats are fed with rice and wheat at a
nearby temple, which is visited by thou-
sands of devotees every Saturday. Bhushan
Makkar, head of the local area committee,
blames devotees’ “careless offerings to
God.”
 PEOPLE
Achievements
S haobing Peng has received the honor
of Fellow of the Crop Science Society of
America (CSSA) for 2005, during the 6-10
November 2005 CSSA annual meetings in
Salt Lake City, Utah. Dr. Peng (pictured
with CSSA President James Coors) received
the award with nine other scientists selected
by the CSSA based on their professional
achievements and meritorious service. His
research focuses on rice physiology with em-
phasis on improving resource-use efficiency
of high-yielding varieties and identifying the
physiological and biochemical processes
that limit the advance of rice yield potential
in the irrigated ecosystem.
Also at the CSSA meetings, J.K.
Ladha, IRRI senior scientist and coor-
dinator of the Rice-Wheat Consortium,
received the Outstanding Agricultural
Scientist Award for 2005 in recognition
of his research contribution to sustainable
management of agriculture and natural
resources.
At the concurrent American Society of
Agronomy meeting in Salt Lake City, retired
IRRI principal scientist Sant Virmani
received the 2005 Monsanto Crop Science
Distinguished Career Award. He also re-
ceived a plaque of appreciation from IRRI
for his 25-year contribution to hybrid rice
research and development in the tropics
during the 5th International Rice Genetics
Symposium in Manila, on 23 November.
Dr. Peng was also a member of the IRRI
team that won the 2005 CGIAR Science
Award for Outstanding Scientific Article,
Rice yields decline with higher night tem-
perature from global warming, during the
December 2005 annual general meeting of
the Consultative Group on International Ag-
ricultural Research in Marrakech, Morocco.
Along with Dr. Peng, IRRI scientists John
Sheehy, Rebecca C. Laza, Romeo M.
Visperas, Grace S. Centeno, and World
Food Prize laureate and former IRRI prin-
cipal scientist Gurdev Khush comprised
the team. Jianliang Huang (Huazhong
Agricultural University, China), Xuhua
Zhong (Guangdong Academy of Agricul-
tural Sciences, China), and Ken Cassman
(University of Nebraska) were co-authors.
The Proceedings of the National Academy
of Science of the United States of America
published the paper on 6 July 2004.
Dr. Khush also received an honoris
causa (honorary degree) from the Ohio
State University on 19 March.
IRRI senior scientist Darshan Brar
was named Fellow of the National Academy
of Agricultural Sciences and Honorary Fel-
low of the Punjab Academy of Sciences.
The Philippine Association of Aca-
demic and Research Librarians named
IRRI chief librarian Mila Ramos as 2005
Outstanding Academic/Research Librarian
of the Year for her “remarkable contribution
to the advancement of agricultural research
librarianship as trainer, paper presenter,
and facilitator in both local and interna-
tional conferences.”
Keeping up with IRRI staff
M angala Rai, secretary of the gov-
ernment of India’s Department of
Agricultural Research and Education and
director general of the Indian Council for
Agricultural Research, has joined IRRI’s
Board of Trustees to complete the final two
years (2006-07) of the unfinished second
term of Kay Beese of Germany, who re-
signed effective 8 November 2005.
Robert Hijmans recently joined the
Social Sciences Division (SSD) as geograph-
ic information systems specialist. Zenaida
Huelgas joined SSD as associate scientist
after a 7-year work stint in New York City,
USA. She was a former IRRI scholar (1988-
89) and senior research assistant (1994-97)
at SSD.
Gone ahead
A. Syarifuddin Karama, former secre-
tary general of the Indonesian Ministry of
Agriculture, passed away on 19 February.
Dr. Karama, who did his Ph.D. research at
IRRI, was a widely respected scientist and
admired advocate for rice research. His
past posts include head of the Center for
Soil and Agroclimate Research in Bogor
Rice Today April-June 2006
Surapong Sarka-
rung, former IRRI plant
breeder for the Rainfed
Lowland Program and one of
Thailand’s most renowned
rice breeders, was named
Outstanding Graduate for
2005 of the University of
Arkansas.
Mario Movillon, for-
mer manager of the then
Visitors, Exhibitions, and
Conference Services, was
named 2005 Most Out-
standing Branch Manager
of the Philippine Rice Re-
search Institute—which he
joined in 2002 after 19 years
at IRRI—on 8 November
2005.
On 2 December 2005,
CSSA
IRRI awarded Wageningen
University visiting consul-
tant Hendrika Hillegonda van Laar
a plaque of appreciation for service to the
institute over the last 20 years. Dr. van Laar
worked on various collaborative projects,
including Simulation and Systems Analysis
for Rice Production, Systems Research Net-
work for Ecoregional Land Use Planning in
Tropical Asia, and Potential of Water-saving
Technologies in Rice Production.
Ian Wallace, former director for
administration and human resources, left
IRRI recently after 13 years of service. His
initiatives as head of the IRRI Library (1993-
99) made the facility the world’s premiere
documentation center on rice.
International Research Fellow David
Shires is the new acting head of the IRRI
Training Center, while senior manager
Elisa Panes is acting head of Human Re-
sources Services.
Plant breeder Glenn Gregorio left for
Ibadan, Nigeria, on 22 January as IRRI’s
rice breeder for Africa, to work in collabo-
ration with the West Africa Rice Develop-
ment Association (WARDA, the Africa Rice
Center) and the International Institute for
Tropical Agriculture Substation.
and director of the Sukarami Rice Research
Station in West Sumatra. His passing has
been described as a great loss not only to
his family but also to Indonesia.
Orlando Santos, who retired as the
head of the IRRI Central Research Farm in
1994, passed away on 26 January at age 76.
Lao-IRRI project employee, Samien Lu-
anglath, 46, passed away on 28 January.
11
 direct
The
approach
A return to the ways of their
forefathers has seen Indian and
Bangladeshi rice farmers reduce
their need for water and address the
growing problem of labor shortages
STORY AND PHOTOS BY ADAM BARCLAY
T
o understand the importance of rice farming
to Bangladesh, look at the numbers. This
densely populated country—more crowded
than any other on Earth bar city-states
such as Singapore—has 146 million people.
Around 80 million of them rely on agriculture for their
livelihood. Agriculture alone employs around two-
thirds of the labor force of almost 70 million and rice
is the country’s most significant agricultural product,
accounting for more than three-quarters of total cropped
area. Add to this the fact that the average Bangladeshi
receives around three-quarters of his or her calories
from rice and you begin to understand the grain’s
significance. Further, in India and Bangladesh, the
poorest people spend up to half their income on rice.
While India doesn’t rely on rice in the same way as its
northeastern neighbor, rice remains India’s single most
important agricultural product. Given India’s sheer
numbers—its 1.1 billion people constitute almost one-
describes his experiences with direct-
fifth of the world’s population—merely maintaining
rice productivity is not enough; as the population
rises, India must produce more rice on less land.
12
BABUL, a farmer from Rashantapur
village in Rajshahi, Bangladesh,
seeded rice. Two girls (above right)
take a break after harvesting rice in
the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
The Indo-Gangetic Plains, running east from
northwestern India across to the Barind area of western
Bangladesh, are some of the most agriculturally important
tracts of land on the planet. Home to India’s rice-wheat
cropping system, the plains are the most productive
area in the country and vital to the food security of
India. Infrastructure, such as irrigation, is relatively well
developed and many farmers have access to mechanical
equipment including tractors and machine seeders.
Despite these advances, farmers here face problems,
such as deteriorating soil health, rising costs, and
declining productivity and labor availability. Without
workable solutions, things are likely to get worse.
As you move east along the plains into eastern
India and then northwestern Bangladesh and the High
Barind Tract, the farm sizes and level of development
tend to diminish. In the Barind, farms average less
than 1 hectare in size, on which farmers do their
best to simply grow enough food for themselves and
their families. Rice farming here relies more heavily
on manual labor and simple tillage equipment.
Despite dramatic differences between farms at either
end of the Indo-Gangetic Plains, farmers along their
length share several problems—two of which have grave
implications for rice production and, by extension, for the
welfare and food security of many millions of people.
First, as people who traditionally made their living
working on farms are uprooting and moving to the cities
to find work in the developing urban and industrial
sectors, the availability of farm labor is decreasing—
particularly during the peak periods of farm operations—
and, consequently, becoming more and more expensive.
Second, and perhaps even more pressing, are the
issues of water availability and cost. Farmers the world
over are, of course, dependent on water. In Bangladesh,
and on the least developed farms of the Indo-Gangetic
Plains, farmers rely on monsoon rains. If the rains
are too late or too little, farmers may not be able to
establish the crop and, even where they do, yields can be
decimated. At the other end of the plains, many farms
pump groundwater when and as needed but unless
something changes soon, this cannot continue. Water
tables are falling and, as global fuel prices continue their
steep climb of the last few years, the cost of irrigation
is becoming prohibitive to the point where farmers are
13

foregoing the use of their irrigation
systems and, like their Bangladeshi
counterparts, waiting for the rains.
So, what are the alternatives?
One approach, which has emerged
as a promising part of the solution
across the Indo-Gangetic Plains,
is deceptively simple: rather than
transplanting rice seedlings into
flooded fields, sow rice seeds directly
into an unflooded field. Such direct
seeding can offer relief in terms of
both the water and labor problems
and, since 1999, has been investigated
as part of two projects—Promotion
of cost-effective weed practices
for lowland rice in Bangladesh
and Promotion of integrated weed
management for direct-seeded rice
in the Gangetic Plains of India—with
collaboration among the International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI),
the U.K.-based Natural Resources
Institute (NRI), and the University
of Liverpool, with additional
funding from the Crop Protection
EXPERIMENTAL plots at G.B. Pant Uni-
versity show the devastating effect of
no weeding (foreground) versus good
weed management (background).
14
LEADING the direct seeding charge (four photos from
left to right): Dr. M.A. Mazid observes direct-seeded
rice fields in Rajshahi, Bangladesh, with field techni-
cian Md. Nazmul Hossain; Pantnagar farmer M.S. Gre-
wal (at left), who describes direct seeding as “very
beneficial,” and G.B. Pant University agronomist Dr.
V.P. Singh discuss Mr. Grewal’s experiences; G.B. Pant
agronomist Dr. K.S. Shekhar describes how research-
ers are getting information to farmers; and Dr. Y.
Singh, also from G.B. Pant, has played a key role in
developing direct-seeding in northern India.
Programme of the U.K. Department
for International Development.
Through IRRI, the work is linked
with the Irrigated Rice Research
Consortium and the Consortium for
Unfavorable Rice Environments.
With their in-country
collaborators—the Bangladesh
Rice Research Institute (BRRI)
and, in India, G.B. Pant University
of Agriculture and Technology
in Pantnagar, Narendra Deva
University of Agriculture and
Technology in Faizabad, C.S. Azad
Agriculture University in Kanpur, and
Rajendra Agriculture University in
Patna—the projects have examined
the advantages, challenges,
DIRECT-SEEDED rice (right)
matures 3–4 weeks earlier
than transplanted rice
(left), and so is more
likely to avoid damaging
early-season drought and
increase farmers’ chances
of successfully growing a
subsequent nonrice crop.
Rice Today April-June 2006
opportunities, and constraints of
direct seeding across the Indo-
Gangetic Plains and the Barind.
Although the idea of a rice farm
often evokes images of flooded
paddies and bunded terraces, direct
seeding is not a new approach.
Until the early 1960s, most Indian
and Bangladeshi farmers direct-
seeded their crops. At that time, the
introduction of a more productive
model of rice production, which
exploited high-yielding varieties and
increased fertilizer use, triggered a
move to transplanting. In an ever-
changing production environment,
and despite its advantages, there
is growing recognition that the
transplanting model isn’t ideal for
every location and circumstance.
There are a number of options
for direct seeding, though the
principles remain the same. Rice
can be sown with either dry or wet
(pregerminated) seed, which is
either placed in rows or broadcast.

Bangladeshi farmers have tested
dry-seeding rice in furrows made by a
lithao, a simple, low-cost metal plow
drawn by two people (see photo in A
tale of two farmers, right). In both
Bangladesh and India, if soil moisture
is adequate, pregerminated rice seed
may be either broadcast by hand or
of the weather. Drought during
the rice plants’ flowering stage
can devastate the crop, causing
yield losses of 50% or more.
M.A. Mazid, principal scientific
officer and head of the BRRI
regional station in Rangpur, explains
the situation in the Barind.
“Generally,” he says, “farmers
are supposed to transplant by mid-
July. But if there’s no rain, they can’t
transplant and the seedlings get
older—40, 50, even 60 days, while
seedlings should be no older than
around 30 days to get the best yields.”
The need for high levels of
rainfall before transplanting means
that direct-seeded rice can be
established around 1 month ahead
of transplanted rice. In addition,
direct-seeded crops are not affected
by “transplanting shock,” a period
of a few days immediately after
A TALE OF TWO FARMERS
transplanting when the plants don’t
grow, and so are further advanced
than those transplanted. When Rice
Today visited rice farms in Rajshahi,
Bangladesh, in early October 2005,
the direct-seeded crops had already
flowered and thus escaped the worst
effects of any subsequent drought,
which would have ravaged the later-
flowering, transplanted crops.
“Earlier establishment has
an additional advantage,” adds
Dr. Johnson, “because it means
earlier harvest, which increases
the chances of growing a dry-
season crop like chickpea, a cash
crop that helps increase income
and so improves the livelihood
of farmers and their families.”
Traditionally, Barind farmers
transplant a single crop of rice each
year, growing a second crop like
chickpea only if sufficient moisture

sown in rows with an inexpensive
plastic drum seeder, pulled by a
single user (see Drumming up
success in Rice Today Vol. 4 No. 2,
pages 22-27). Meanwhile, on many
northeastern Indian farms, farmers
use tractor-mounted mechanical
seeders that sow seeds at chosen rates
and simultaneously apply fertilizer.
The specific advantages of
direct seeding vary with farmers’
circumstances. David Johnson, an
IRRI weed scientist and one of the
project’s investigators, explains
the situation at the eastern end
of the Plains, in Bangladesh.
“It takes about 500 mm of
cumulative rainfall for a farmer
to be able to establish a rice crop
through transplanting,” says Dr.
Johnson. “If farmers direct-seed,
they can establish the crop from
about one-quarter of that.”
By direct seeding, therefore,
farmers can avoid the hardships
of 2003, 2004, and 2005, when
the monsoon rains arrived so late
that many growers were unable
to establish a rice crop at all.
Further, even if there is sufficient
rain for farmers to transplant on
time, they are still at the mercy
A
bdul Basir and Shadat Hossain, rice farmers from Rajabari village in the Bangladeshi district of
Rajshahi, tried direct seeding for the first time in 2005, preparing their fields by furrowing the soil
with a locally produced lithao, which they demonstrate with Dr. M.A. Mazid, below (Shadat at left).
“Previously,” says Shadat, “I needed a seedbed that required extra management like uprooting
seedlings and transplanting. If there was enough rain, I could transplant but, if there was no rain,
the seedlings became older and I had to wait—in some years, two months or more. If I transplanted
older seedlings, the yield was very poor. In 2003, there was so little rain that we couldn’t transplant
at all.”
“With direct seeding by lithao, we can go ahead, even with little water,” concurs the 45-year-
old Abdul, who supports a family of seven. “With direct seeding I expect that, whatever happens, I’ll
harvest something. This gives me a good feeling. Before, we believed that if there was no more rain,
there would be no crop. Now, we believe that even if there’s only a small amount of rain, the seed will
germinate and we’ll get some rice.”
Both farmers have also been struck by the labor advantages of direct seeding, noting that labor
requirements are less and more labor is available when it is needed.
“During transplanting time,” explains Abdul, “every farmer wants to transplant, so there’s a labor
shortage and labor prices go up. Direct-seeded rice requires 15 labor days per hectare; transplanting
requires 30 labor days.”
When they transplanted, Abdul and Shadat generally grew only a wet-season rice crop each year.
If there was enough soil moisture following rice harvest, they would plant a chickpea crop too, but in
the past five years, Abdul managed to grow chickpeas only once. In 2005, both farmers reaped good
yields from their direct-seeded rice fields and consequently grew successful chickpea crops.
There has been keen
interest from surrounding
farmers not directly involved
in the project. Both Abdul and
Shadat invited their neighbors
to see their crop. About 50 local
farmers visited and, according
to Abdul, were so impressed
that they now plan to try direct
seeding themselves.
“We should follow this in
the future,” concludes Shadat.
“We will continue to do this,
even if the extension agents
and the researchers have
gone.”

Rice Today April-June 2006 15

remains in the field following
the rice harvest. Currently, in an
average year, about 80% of the
land remains fallow in the second
season. The earlier harvest of direct-
seeded rice increases the chances
of there being sufficient residual
soil moisture for a second crop.
“Chickpea is a high-value crop,”
says Dr. Mazid, adding that there
is an excellent market for it in
Bangladesh, where it fetches around
two and a half times the price of
rice per unit volume. “Generally,
we import chickpea from Australia,
India, or even Canada; there isn’t
sufficient production here.”
The results of the 2005 harvest
were encouraging. Yields were good
and the early harvest and increased
residual soil moisture allowed the
direct-seeding farmers to establish
chickpea crops, which also produced
good yields. Direct seeding helped
ensure that farmers and their families
had enough food during Monga, the
lean period in October and November
before transplanted rice is harvested.
Back west in India’s rice-wheat
belt, some farmers, like their
16
Bangladeshi counterparts, do not
have access to irrigation. Many
who do, however, are becoming
increasingly reliant on rain due to
the high costs of pumping while
others face increased competition
from the industrial and urban sectors
that are making water a scarce
resource. If rains arrive too late,
Rice Today April-June 2006
the rice crop is compromised and
the equally important wheat crop
is jeopardized. Wheat needs to be
well established before the weather
becomes cold. For every week beyond
1 November that wheat planting
is delayed, the crop suffers a yield
loss of 10%, or around 400 kg, per
hectare in the most productive areas.
Project team member Y. Singh,
from G.B. Pant University, points out
that the ideal time to transplant is in
June but lack of rain can see farmers
transplanting as late as September.
“Even if one good rain comes,”
says Dr. Singh, “a farmer doesn’t
have time to transplant his whole
area—he’ll need more good rain.
With direct seeding, we can make
sure that the entire rice area
is sown and sown on time.”
Timely harvests are not the only
benefit, with direct-seeded crops
needing less water overall. Dr. Singh
explains that one of the reasons
for this is the way that soil behaves
under different planting systems.
“During a period of drought,”
he says, “when we don’t get rains
for many days, the soil in the
A LOCAL MAN cycles past rice fields
near Pantnagar, India, where farmers
are informed about weed manage-
ment strategies through posters
(above), leaflets, demonstrations,
and meetings.
transplanted crop’s field develops THE WIDOW FARMER OF SERAPERA
many cracks. Then, to irrigate
it and take care of those cracks
requires a lot of water. This doesn’t A lya, dressed in bright orange and purple, cuts a distinctive
figure against the bright green backdrop of the rice field. A
farmer from Serapera village, in Bangladesh’s Rajshahi District,
happen for direct-seeded crops.
she is not your typical Bangladeshi rice farmer. Although women
When we work it out, the total play a significant role in Bangladeshi rice production, the head
quantity of water used for a direct- farmers are usually men. Following the death of her husband,
seeded crop is much less than that though, Alya (pictured right) was left with no choice but to take
used for a transplanted crop.” over the farm and single-handedly support her four daughters
The other major advantage of and two sons.
In the 2005 wet season, Alya used a drum seeder to direct-
direct seeding over transplanting seed 1 bigha of land (just less than a seventh of a hectare).
is that it requires less labor at Through reduced water and labor requirements, she immediately
a time when overall farm labor saved around Tk500 (US$7.40) on the direct-seeded plot but,
availability is dropping due to better early on, it didn’t look good.
opportunities outside agriculture “But now the direct-seeded crop looks better than the
traditional crop,” she says. “When other people first saw my
in urban areas. Dr. Singh points field, they said, ‘you’ll lose everything!’ Now, they say, ‘your plot
out that as scarcity has increased, looks very good, one of the best in the area.’ My neighbors are very happy about this.”
so have wages. “I would say Alya’s 2005 direct-seeded rice, which was 3 weeks ahead her transplanted crop, achieved an
agriculture is a last priority,” he impressive yield and she was subsequently able to grow successful wheat, sesame, and chickpea crops.
says. “It’s low-paid, seasonal, and In the previous season, when she only transplanted rice, Alya grew chickpea and linseed after rice,
but the chickpea fared poorly because it was planted too late. Her sons, who help on the farm, are
has a high degree of drudgery.” impressed.
K.S. Shekhar, associate “One of my sons is saying, ‘Mum, we’ll direct-seed,’” Alya explains. “We won’t transplant any
director of extension (agronomy) more.”
at G.B. Pant University, says that
around his state of Uttaranchal,
increased opportunities in 25%. And the results to date show seeded with a drum seeder were
nonagricultural sectors have caused no yield disadvantage. On the about one ton per hectare more.
labor wage rates to skyrocket. contrary, Dr. Mazid reports that If direct seeding offers these
“This area is in India’s steel in a 2004 study of seven on-farm advantages, why transplant at all?
belt,” says Dr. Shekhar. “There sites planted to the popular variety The main answer is simple: weeds.
used to be a lot of labor, but now Swarna, yields in transplanted plots First, the transplanted rice seedlings,
there are so many other industries were 4.7 tons per hectare while grown in a nursery before being
established, so farmers want yields in plots that had been direct- moved to the field, have a head
technologies that require less labor.”
Even the farmers themselves
THRESHING rice in
understand why laborers are drawn Uttar Pradesh, India.
off the land. Dr. Shekhar cites a
national survey that showed most
farmers would leave farming for a
reasonable job in another industry.
Farmers have a common lament,
he says, that goes: “When I do a
job, I have an 8-hour headache.
Farming is a 24-hour headache.”
There are other cost savings, too.
Direct seeding is generally cheaper
than transplanting, which incurs the
expenses of nursery establishment
and care, and the labor that goes
along with that. And, on larger farms,
running tractors and machine seeders
is less expensive on a dry, unpuddled
field than on a flooded one.
Dr. Mazid says that, in the
Barind, average crop establishment
costs per hectare are around US$120
for transplanted rice and $90 for
direct-seeded rice—a reduction of

Rice Today April-June 2006 17


start over any competing weeds.
Second, the water in a flooded
field effectively acts as a herbicide,
suppressing weed growth. The
flipside, of course, is that weeds are
the major problem facing farmers
who direct-seed, and who can lose
most of their yield if they don’t adopt
adequate weed-control measures.
“It’s likely that farmers who
direct-seed will be more reliant on
herbicides,” says Dr. Johnson, “simply direct seeding on a large scale
because they can’t rely on flooding
to suppress weeds during the crucial
initial period of crop establishment.”
Most Indian farmers already use
herbicides. In Bangladesh, farmers
are less familiar with herbicides but
recent years have seen increased
A DECISION TREE, designed to help
farmers make simple, step-by-step
decisions on how to best manage
their direct-seeded crops.
��
�����������
����������������������
���
�����������������������������
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18
use. In the farmers who direct-seeded in 2005
past, where had yields as good as or better
farmers have than for their transplanted fields.
changed from Direct seeding won’t eliminate
transplanting to labor issues. As more farmers adopt
direct seeding, a the technique, there is likely to
lack of good weed be an increased demand for hand
management has labor for supplementary weeding.
constrained the Even when herbicide is used, crops
JOSE RAYMOND PANALIGAN
development of generally need at least one follow-
IRRI WEED scientist successful direct- up hand weeding. But this shift
David Johnson examines seeding systems. in labor use will be spread over
a weed with field tech-
nician Emil Barcial.
Effective weed a longer period than the labor
management bottleneck for transplanting.
is more than The challenge, then, is greater
just spraying a field with herbicide. than training farmers to choose the
After 5 years of on-farm trials, the most appropriate herbicides and use
researchers are confident that direct them safely and effectively at the
seeding is a sustainable practice. correct time. Every field has its own
“However,” says Dr. Johnson, weed issues, which reflect past crop
“it is a knowledge-intensive system management systems. If a farmer
and we’ll need to ensure that the moves to a new system, different
farmers have the knowledge and weeds will emerge as problems.
information they need to make the Farmers therefore need decision-
right decisions at the right time.” making tools that allow them to
The key to successful anticipate changes and adopt the
most effective strategy for combating
therefore lies in the way that weeds (see Work needed to weed
farmers manage their crops. out farmers’ problems on page 38).
“We have to change the farmer’s “Ultimately,” says Dr. Johnson,
mindset,” says Dr. Singh. “If he wants “we want a series of simple rules
to do better, he has to be a better in question-and-answer form. For
manager. Only then will it be possible example, ‘What direct seeding
to benefit from new technologies. method should I use?’ or ‘If species
Productivity A develops as a serious weed in
levels, by and the field, what should I do?’. This
��������������
�������������������������
large, could is the next step—to bring together
be improved the research results and develop a
��� ��
and the gap is format that allows farmers to access
����������� ����������
partly due to the information.” (See figure at left)
management. If a The real success of these projects
������������������������
����������������
farmer improves will be seen when farmers over a wide
management area feel confident enough to adopt
���
and input levels, direct seeding. The research projects
���������������������� certainly his in Bangladesh and India have shown
��������������
productivity that successful weed management
will go up.” strategies that enable direct seeding
�� ��������������������������������
������������������������� Sure enough, can be put in place in both rainfed
�� ��� when weeds and irrigated rice-cropping systems.
are managed “It might not be something that
������������� ������������� ���������
appropriately, happens on a wide scale until the
direct seeding circumstances to encourage such a
���������������������� is showing change are in place,” says Dr. Johnson.
promising “But with declining availability of
��
results. Like irrigation water and of labor at peak
������������������������
������������������������������� their Bangladeshi periods, it’s likely that, over the long
counterparts, term, we’ll see a continued shift to-
the Indian wards direct seeding in South Asia.”
Rice Today April-June 2006
Claiming rice fields
from WILD RIVERS

I
by Gene Hettel

n the overleaf that follows, the breathtaking bird’s-

eye view of the winding Alimit River in remote
northeastern Ifugao Province on Luzon Island in the
Philippines shows how the landscape can be fashioned
by nature—and humans. Indeed, the Alimit has carved
its way through the mountains for centuries and, as can
be seen in the lower right quarter of the centerfold, the
Ifugao people have been doing some carving of their own.
Their decades-long, methodical chiseling of the
riverbank will eventually help isolate the oxbow from
the river’s flow, providing these ingenious engineer-
farmers a new fertile niche on which to grow their famed
Ifugao rice. The photo at right shows the end result of a
successful centuries-earlier claiming of the river’s territory
for rice growing.

These photos are just two of nearly 1,000 shots

made from a small airplane during an early March
2006 expedition by Rice Today photographer
Ariel Javellana under the guidance of eminent Yale
anthropologist (retired) Harold Conklin. With the
fickle weather of Luzon’s Cordillera Mountain Range
being unusually cooperative, the adventuresome
duo spent many hours flying above the province’s
rice terraces, fields, river valleys, mountains,
and forests. They documented some 40
years of both change and stability across
approximately 80% of the province’s 2,500
square kilometers of rugged topography.
“The Ifugao people do not consider
anything immovable,” said Dr. Conklin in
admiration of these indigenous people, whom he
has studied for more than 4 decades, as he reviewed
with Javellana the treasure trove of images they
brought back with them to IRRI for study. Dr. Conklin
plans to include an analysis of some of the photos in a book he is
planning about rice and the Ifugao. Watch for more spectacular
photography from this collection in a future issue of Rice Today.

Rice Today April-June 2006 19

 20 Rice Today April-June 2006 Rice Today April-June 2006 21
Rice Today April-June 2006, Vol. 5, No. 2 The Alimit River winds through remote northeastern Ifugao Province, Philippines.
 LAO farmers tend vegetable
terraces on the Nam Khan
River near Luang Prabang.
Improved rice production
allows farmers to diversify
their crops, and therefore
their diet and income—but
life throughout Lao PDR, seen
in the surrounding photos,
continues to depend on rice.

DANIELE MARECHAL
Lao
Genuinely The story of the

project that

revolutionized rice

production in

Lao PDR

PETER FREDENBURG (7)

by Adam Barclay and Samjhana Shrestha

I
n 1990, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao
PDR) needed more food. The rice industry in par-
ticular and agriculture in general were ready for
change. It had been a long time since the country had
produced enough rice—from which the average Lao
person receives around two-thirds of his or her calories—to
feed everybody. Something needed to happen, and soon.
History tells us that change did arrive that year,
along with the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-
operation (SDC) and the International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI). The Lao-IRRI Rice Research and Train-
ing Project aimed to completely revitalize the Lao rice
industry. The next 15 years would see an enormous
surge in Lao PDR’s research and training capacity as
well as the long, hard journey to rice self-sufficiency.
SAMJHANA SHRESTHA

DANIELE MARECHAL
22 Rice Today April-June 2006 Rice Today April-June 2006 23
 102˚E 104˚E CHINA Tropic of Cancer

MYANMAR
C H I N A
John Schiller, the former IRRI LA
O
PD
scientist who led the project from its 22˚N
R

THAILAND
start in 1990 until 2001, recalls the

T NAM
Gulf

situation when the project began. Pongsaly

of
Bengal CAMBODIA
MYANMAR I E
“In 1990,” he explains, “there

V
was almost no research aimed at Luang
developing technologies for im- Namtha South China Sea

proving rice production, almost Bokeo

g
no commercial fertilizer use, and Oudomxay

an
Houaphan Equator

ab
limited rice research expertise.” 20˚N

Pr
g
an
After Dr. Schiller left, Karl

Lu
Goeppert took over project manage- Xiengkhouang
ment in 2001-04, followed by IRRI
Xaysomboun

V
vin e
agronomist Bruce Linquist, who

Proentian
ce
ly
Special

IE
u
Zone
arrived in Lao PDR in 1997 and led

abo

Vi

T
Say
Bolikhamxay
the project in 2004-05. Dr. Linquist

N
points out that the country’s prob-

A
M
18˚N 18˚N
lems were compounded by a dearth Vientiane Prefecture Khammouane
of international aid before the project
began. “We were the only ones do-
ing rice research and we basically
started from scratch,” he says. T H A I L A N D
Savannakhet
IRRI entomologist
Gary Jahn, who took over
management of the 16˚N
Northern region
16˚N

project in July 2005, Central region

Saravane
Xekong
will oversee the Southern region
transition from a Research activity Champassak
Research station
bilateral project
Attapue
to a fully fledged

14˚N 14˚N
102˚E 104˚E CA M B O D I A

THE LAO-IRRI Project contributed substantially to the development of a functional national

rice research system and the establishment of a network of research stations across the
country in all provinces.

national research program, NRRP director Kouang Douangsila.

A LOWLAND rice farmer
from Savannakhet Province
threshes his rice after the
2005 harvest.
completely managed and co- How did the Lao-IRRI Proj-
ordinated by the Lao govern- ect improve rice production and
ment’s National Rice Re- build a national research program?
search Program (NRRP) under For a start, the timing was good
and, as the project began, sev-
eral key factors converged.
“The government
introduced favorable
agricultural policies,”
explains

24
DANIELE MARECHAL Rice Today April-June 2006
Ty Phommasack, the vice minister for
agriculture and forestry. “At the same
time, IRRI arrived with technolo-
gies and know-how and SDC came
in with long-term financial support.
The government’s support has been
a big factor from the very start, and
the impact it has had on the Lao rice
industry really is unprecedented.”
Dr. Schiller adds that the min-
ister for agriculture and forestry,
Siene Saphangthong, who spent
time at IRRI as a research scholar
and served on the institute’s board
of trustees in 1996-2001, strongly
supported the project in its early
stages, when he was vice minister.
“As a result,” he says, “we didn’t suf-
fer a lot of the work-related frustra-
tions that other agencies faced.”
It would be impossible to point
to a single measure of success in
a project as broad as Lao-IRRI.
Statistics, such as the amount of
land planted to Lao modern rice
varieties—high-yielding varieties
developed specifically for Lao condi-
tions from the Lao-IRRI research
programs—tell part of the story
(see Growing impact on page 27).
“At the field level, one of the most
obvious impacts has been the release
of the improved Lao rice varieties,”
says Dr. Schiller. “In the Mekong
River Valley in 1990, only 5% of the
lowland rice area was under improved
varieties. By 2004, many provinces
had up to 80% of their lowland area
planted to improved varieties.”
The impact of these modern
varieties has been profound, playing
a huge part in Lao PDR increasing
rice production between 1990 and
2004 from 1.5 million to 2.5 million
tons. From 1996 to 2004—the period
during which technologies were dis-
seminated—the country saw a 79%
increase in rice production with a
corresponding increase in land area
planted to rice of only 39%—and most
of this increase was due to double
cropping of rice, not clearance of new
land. The average annual growth rate
in production for the 15-year dura-
tion of the project is just above 5%
and this increases to more than 7%
since 1996. According to Sengpaseuth
Rasabandith, head of the Food Crops
Department at the Lao National Ag-
ricultural Research Center, “Without
the Lao-IRRI Project, there would not
have been national modern varieties
to release. The project has created
a ‘rice revolution’ in the country.”
At the same time, Lao farmers’
traditional rice varieties are not be-
ing sacrificed. The project has aimed
for a well-balanced development
of the country’s rice industry and,
currently, around one-third of Lao
PDR’s rice-growing area is planted
to Lao modern varieties, one-third
to other modern varieties (developed
in other countries and at IRRI), and
one-third to traditional varieties.
While the impact of improved
production is unquestionable, Drs.
Schiller and Linquist agree that the
most significant success has been
the growth of Lao PDR’s agricul-
tural research capacity. “You can’t go
anywhere in Lao PDR and not bump
into somebody who’s benefited from
Lao-IRRI,” says Dr. Linquist. “If
you’re in the agricultural sector, there
have just been hundreds of people
who have been trained through
Lao-IRRI. Training has been huge.
“Sometimes that’s worked
against us—restructuring has
moved a lot of people from our
program to higher positions because
they’ve been well trained. In the
long term, though, that’s beneficial
because as well as having trainees
in the rice area, it filters through
to all areas of government.”
Another area where Lao-IRRI
has made great progress is that of
gender equity. Improved technologies
developed by the project are gender-
neutral, meaning that male- and
PETER FREDENBURG (2)
BRUCE LINQUIST talks to
farmers at a taste test of
candidate rice varieties. After
tasting, the farmers vote their
preferences for eating quality.
female-headed households benefit
equally. For example, average rates
of adoption of modern rice varieties
and subsequent yields are the same
regardless of whether households
are headed by males or females.
Monthathip Chanpengsay, deputy
director of research at the National
Agricultural and Forestry Research
Institute and herself a beneficiary of
many of the Lao-IRRI training pro-
grams, points out that the project also
ensured that women had the same
opportunities for training as men.
“Qualified women have had an
equal chance of being selected in any
of the Lao-IRRI Project’s training
programs,” she says. “There is no evi-
dence at any level of discrimination in
training programs based on gender.”
LAO upland farmers and trad-
ers manhandle bags of Job’s
tears outside warehouses on
the banks of the Mekong at
Luang Prabang. Most of the
harvest is shipped down the
Mekong to Thailand, where it
is used to brew beer.
25
 Lao-IRRI-trained agronomist. When
he first visited Naoukhou in the late
1990s, it was a very poor village.
Now, largely thanks to his efforts,
they are self-sufficient in rice.”
As it happens, the rise of Naouk-
LAO farmer Mai Tamma of the village of Matahe, near
hou happened almost by accident, but
Luang Prabang, tells farmers and extension workers stands as an example of the project’s
at a December 2002 field day how hedgerows of stylo many unanticipated benefits.

PETER FREDENBURG (2)

in his upland field control erosion and provide high- “Naoukhou wasn’t a target vil-
protein feed that his pigs love. Because Mai Tamma lage,” explains Dr. Linquist. “We
has paddies suitable for lowland rice, he need not
plant his upland field to less productive upland rice.
chose the area because it had gall
midge problems and it was good for
screening. But Sulaphon got to know
The project has made a big “The presence and documentation of the farmers, who looked at these
contribution to the conservation of rice genetic diversity is of enormous trials and saw some good stuff. They
rice biodiversity in Lao PDR. Apart pride to Lao people and this is one asked for seed, Sulaphon gave it to
from being an indicator of overall aspect of the Lao-IRRI Project that them, and ‘boom!’—it just spread.”
environmental health, strong biodi- is going to be remembered long after Dr. Schiller is adamant
versity can provide genetic materials the project has been completed.” that one of the factors in Lao-
for future agricultural use. Lao- The past 15 years have seen IRRI’s success was nurturing
IRRI has helped NRRP establish a numerous vivid illustrations of a sense of Lao ownership.
collection of over 13,000 samples the impact that the project has “I didn’t want it seen as just
of traditional varieties, document had on people throughout Lao an ‘IRRI Project in Lao PDR’,” he
indigenous knowledge regarding tra- PDR. Samjhana Shrestha, a con- says. “I often played on the ‘IRRI’
ditional varieties, and conserve wild sultant agricultural economist component of the project name.
rice varieties in their natural habitat. at IRRI, recalls one of these. Expressed in the Lao language
Lao PDR is also the second-largest “I visited Naoukhou village in with the right tones, ‘IRRI’ means
contributor to the International Rice 2002,” says Shrestha, “and I re- ‘genuine.’ You can appreciate the
Genebank maintained at IRRI. member the villagers talking in Lao. opportunity we had to emphasize
According to Rod Lefroy, repre- I couldn’t understand, but I kept that the project was genuinely Lao.”
sentative of the International Center hearing this name—‘Sulaphon’—over This ownership can be seen in
for Tropical Agriculture in Lao PDR, and over again. It turns out that he’s a the way farmers themselves take part
in the research, and aren’t merely
told what to do by foreign research-
NEW HOPE FOR UPLAND FARMERS ers. According to Dr. Linquist, this
practice extensively boosted the adop-
R ice farming in Lao PDR’s uplands is a backbreaking way of
life. The upland environment, where crops are at the mercy
of unpredictable rains, is a poor one for growing rice. The farm
tion of new farming technologies.
“We worked very closely with
families who live there tend to be income and resource poor and the farmers,” he explains. “In-
therefore unable or unwilling to invest adequately in inputs such volving farmers in all the steps
as fertilizer. Upland rice yields are notoriously low, but most of research, from analyzing their
high-yielding modern varieties developed for irrigated systems problems through to finding new
IMPROVED rice production
tend to perform poorly under rainfed conditions.
in the highlands leaves land technologies, has really been ben-
available for diverse crops.
Following the success of an upland farming program in
China’s Yunnan Province (see A mountainous success in Rice Today eficial and has allowed us to get
Vol. 5 No. 1, pages 30-35), however, things are looking up in the uplands. Now, Lao PDR’s National technologies into farmers’ fields.”
Agricultural and Forestry Research Institute and the provincial governments of Oudomxay and Sayabouly Lao-IRRI’s emphasis on capac-
will work together with IRRI and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to boost ity building means that, as well as
Lao upland rice farming in a new three-year project.
working closely with farmers them-
Farmers from remote upland villages in Oudomxay and Sayabouly will test aerobic rice production
technologies, including high-yielding varieties of upland and aerobic rice—which grow well in dry selves, project staff have taught
conditions—from the Lao genebank, China’s Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and IRRI. Lao agricultural officers to work
According to Ren Wang, IRRI deputy director general for research, “We expect a relatively quick more effectively with the farmers.
impact in increasing rice yields for upland farmers. Not only will this help alleviate poverty, it will also “Traditionally, district advis-
help stop the environmentally damaging slash-and-burn farming practiced in many upland areas.”
ers and extension agents have just
As well as introducing higher yielding modern varieties, the project will develop traditional Lao
varieties that are resistant to soil-borne pests. Over the next three years, researchers hope to see average told farmers what to do,” explains
rice yields increase from the current 1 ton per hectare to around 3 tons per hectare. Such progress would Dr. Linquist. “After training district
significantly improve the livelihoods of upland farm families and their communities. officers, we asked them what sort
of benefits they found in working

26 Rice Today April-June 2006

Production and area
Production (000 tons)
2,500
Area (000 hectares)
Yield (tons/hectare)
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0 0
1980 1985 1990 1995
Year
RICE PRODUCTION, area, and yield in Lao PDR, 1980-2004.
with farmers this way compared
with past methods. They told us,
‘We used to have to look for farm-
ers. Now farmers are coming to
us and asking to work with us.’”
The true success of the Lao-
IRRI Project—which is set to end
in September 2006—will only be
known years from now. But the
impact so far has been impres-
sive, with much of the country now
self-sufficient in rice. Work remains
to be done, though, with the less
favorable areas of eastern Lao PDR
still suffering from a rice deficit.
But the building blocks are in
place. According to Dr. Monthathip,
the country now has the ability to
continue improving on its own.
There is, she says, a confidence that
simply didn’t exist 15 years ago.
“The National Rice Research
Program is now sustainable,” says
Dr. Monthathip. “Even if IRRI went
home tomorrow, the rice industry
would be OK. But having IRRI in-
volved has many benefits. It helps us
network with neighboring countries
and international agencies, and it
gives us a broad overview that keeps
things moving along smoothly.”
PANY VANMANIVONG (right), who
works for the Lao Agricultural
Research Organization, interviews
a farmer from northern Lao PDR
for a survey on the impact of the
Lao-IRRI Project.
Yield
6
GROWING IMPACT
5
Farm impact
4  Farmers who grow Lao modern varieties have approximately US$42 per
hectare—or 20%—higher net returns than those who grow traditional
3 varieties and other modern varieties. Yield improvement is the main
reason for increased returns.
2  Among surveyed households, 77% were self-sufficient in rice. Self-
sufficiency is higher among modern variety adopters (82%) relative to
1 nonadopters (58%).
 Overall, cash income from rice is 77% higher for adopters of modern
2000 2004 varieties than for nonadopters.
 Around 80% of surveyed households planted modern varieties on 69% of
rice area.
National impact
“The capaci-  Between 1990 and 2004, rice production increased from 1.5 million tons
ty is there for the to 2.5 million tons.
 The total investment of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
future,” agrees
in the Lao-IRRI Project was approximately $15 million. The benefit-cost
Dr. Linquist. ratio is 7:1—for every dollar invested in the project, the Lao economy
“There are strong is reaping a benefit of $7.
links established  The estimated gain in production for 2004 directly attributable to the
between IRRI Lao-IRRI Project is 226,000 to 282,000 tons, corresponding to a value
of $26–32.4 million at the farm-gate price of $115 per ton.
and the Lao na-
tional partners. Institutional impact
The big issue now  During the early phases of the Lao-IRRI Project, in 1990-95, infrastructure
is thinking of such as access roads, buildings, and laboratories, was constructed and
innovative ways research farms were established. Research and training facilities were
constructed in the Lao capital of Vientiane and in other regions.
to continue the  Lao-IRRI has established a network of research stations in all 17 provinces,
research. But the forming part of a functional national rice research system.
capacity is there.”  Lao PDR’s rice research and training capacity has been increased through
A fully more than 4,600 training opportunities, including higher degree training,
functional rice on-the-job training, and participation in international conferences.
 The project has fostered collaboration between the national research system
research system
and a range of national and international organizations. Project alumni
is now a reality are now the main personnel collaborating with development agencies.
in Lao PDR. This
includes the es-
tablishment of a network of research “In just 15 years, Lao PDR has
stations and a well-trained cadre progressed from subsistence rice
of research scientists and manag- farming to more intensive production
ers. These people are now providing farming,” he says. “With sufficient
scientific and management leadership support, the country will move to
to the country’s agricultural research the next level of development—com-
system, which has developed to a mercial farming and rice export. This
stage where it can fully participate stepwise approach to the development
in regional research initiatives and of rice-based economies has worked
networks. IRRI’s faith in Lao re- well for Vietnam and Thailand.
search capacity “The Lao-IRRI Project has
can be seen in effectively nurtured Lao PDR’s
the institute’s re- research system through its in-
quest to base its fancy. The system, which now has
Greater Mekong a critical mass of well-trained sci-
Regional Office entists and research managers,
in Lao PDR. Dr. has reached the point where it can
Jahn anticipates operate effectively on its own.”
that Lao PDR This is a tremendous and last-
SAMJHANA SHRESTHA
will play a pivotal ing contribution to national and
role in regional institutional development that
agricultural will continue to pay handsome
challenges. dividends well into the future.
Rice Today April-June 2006 27

Smallholders who integrate
rice farming with livestock
are the mainstay of traditional
agriculture in the Greater
Mekong Subregion—and a model
for sustainable development
by Peter Fredenburg
and Bob Hill
T
he Farming Systems Research Group
at Khon Kaen University, in Thailand’s
hardscrabble northeast, studies the
evolution of local farming systems. In
collaboration with the International Rice
Research Institute (IRRI), it has focused particularly
on those that integrate rice farming with animal
husbandry. Suchint Simaraks, head of the research
group, recreates life on the farm in northeastern
Thailand as it was in the middle of the 20th century.
Most farmers, he says, grew their traditional varieties
of glutinous rice. It was eaten by hand or scrunched
into a pocket, to be eaten during a moment’s shady rest
in the oppressive heat of the day. Rice was their major
crop, planted with the first rains in May or June and
nurtured through the rainy season, which was equally
prone to flood or drought. If the weather was kind,
farmers had just enough rice to last through the year. But
the years without drought or flood were the occasional
ones, so farmers’ arts of survival were finely honed.
Always wary of theft, they kept cattle and buffalo
under their houses at night. The animals were their
“money in the bank.” If an urgent need for cash arose, a
beast was sold. Meanwhile, land preparation depended
28 Rice Today April-June 2006
BACK TO THE
FUTURE
almost entirely on buffalo power. Chemical fertilizer
was unknown, so the manure shoveled off the corral
was the universal fertilizer. It nourished the mulberry
trees that fed the silkworms that produced silk for the
family to weave. It was used to fertilize tobacco crops,
was saved for the rice nursery before the rain, and
was available for vegetable plots around the house.
In the dry season, the animals roamed freely
in the paddies, widely distributing their manure.
Farmers also threw manure into natural ponds to
feed the fish, crabs, and aquatic insects that would
later feed humans. Nothing was wasted. Sometimes
farmers found personal nourishment in the manure
itself: dung beetles for deep-frying, or the seeds of
certain wild fruits to be shelled and eaten like nuts.
Times have changed in Thailand,
even in the relatively traditional
and disadvantaged northeast.
According to Dr. Suchint, integrated
crop-animal systems started
getting squeezed in the 1970s as
large tracts of forests disappeared,
leaving farmers short of grazing
areas for their cattle and buffalo.
“Around 1961, more than half
of the land in this area was covered
with forest,” he says. “When the
government introduced timber
concessions, the forested area
declined sharply. The cleared forests
were replaced by cash crops such as
[fiber-producing] kenaf and cassava.
This, in turn, stimulated more
forest-clearing. At the same time, the
human population swelled, causing
further acceleration of forest-clearing
for settlements and more cash
crops. The beasts could no longer
be allowed to wander free, and the
prices the livestock brought were not
high enough for farmers to continue
raising them on their farms.”
Government policy accelerated
the trend. “During the past few
decades, policy reforms were
Rice Today April-June 2006
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PETER FREDENBURG (8)
THE MEKONG River, pictured here at
Luang Prabang, Lao PDR, is central
to the lives of hundreds of millions
of people. A boy carries rice straw
(opposite) in the ethnic Khmer village
of Letri in An Giang Province, Vietnam.
instituted in Thailand that gave
emphasis to strengthening
exports, in particular agricultural
exports,” Dr. Suchint says.
“These policies transformed
smallholdings from near subsistence
level to more commercialized
and specialized systems.”
Today, recovering prices for
meat and growing demand for milk
have made livestock once again
an attractive option for farmers.
Meanwhile, the Thai government
actively encourages the revival of
integrated crop-animal systems,
29
granting a million baht ($24,000)
to every village in the country for
investing in small community-
based ventures. “Farmers have
been borrowing this money to
buy more cattle,” Dr. Suchint
reports. “So, the traditional
farming system is recovering.”
Although large specialized farms
enjoy many commercial advantages
over more traditional smallholdings,
Thailand’s experience shows the
danger of plunging headlong into
specialized agriculture without regard
to its environmental, economic,
and social sustainability. As Thai
farmers rediscover the half-forgotten
virtues of many of their traditional
integrated farm practices, less-
developed countries in the Greater
Mekong Subregion can benefit from
the Thai lesson—and from research
that aims to guide the evolution of
integrated systems for the benefit
of farmers and consumers alike.
“Integrated crop-animal systems
are popular because they maximize
the use of farm resources,” explains
Mercedita Sombilla, a former
agricultural trade and development
specialist in IRRI’s Social Sciences
30
Division. “They employ idle rural
manpower, generate supplementary
income for farm families, and reduce
financial risk and rural poverty.
And they are—or at least can
be—environmentally sustainable.
“Intensified development of
these systems is appealing as the
major actors and beneficiaries
are small farmers and landless
families,” she adds. “However,
sustaining the complementarities
between crop and animal activities
is a big challenge, especially in the
rice areas of Southeast Asia.”
Dr. Sombilla coordinated studies
on integrated crop-animal systems
in the Greater Mekong countries of
Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam
(considering the Mekong and Red
River deltas separately), as well as
in the Philippines and Indonesia.
The studies, published in the book
Integrated Crop-Animal Systems in
Southeast Asia: Current Status and
Prospects (available free at www.
irri.org/livestock), describe these
systems and track their evolution;
investigate their potential for poverty
alleviation, food security, and
livelihood improvement in rice-
NGUYEN DUY CAN (second from
right), shown with diversified
rice farmer Le Thanh Dang,
observes that too few Viet-
namese farmers fertilize their
crops with manure, and that
pesticide overuse limits rice
straw's use as livestock feed.
farming communities; and advise
on how best to address the problems
that constrain their sustainable,
market-oriented development.
“Livestock production in
most parts of Cambodia is so
intimately related to rice production
that neither can be studied nor
understood in isolation from the
other,” comments El Sotheary,
Dr. Sombilla’s collaborator at the
CAMBODIAN rice farmer
Ing Chea (left) examines
his poorly filled rice grains
(inset) with Cambodian
Agricultural Research and
Development Instutute
agronomist Chea Chanthan.
Cambodian Agricultural Research
and Development Institute. “The
great majority of the livestock
are raised in integrated farming
systems, most of which have rice
as their major component.”
The recent difficulties faced
by Ing Chea, a rice farmer in Don
Keo District of Takeo Province, 80
kilometers south of Phnom Penh,
demonstrates how critical the rice
component is. Chea, who once owned
a herd of more than 10 cattle but
sold most of them in 1997 to pay for
house construction and his daughter’s
wedding, now has four cows, a couple
of pigs, and a dozen chickens. He has
been unable to afford to rebuild his
herd. He uses manure as fertilizer for
his two annual rice crops, and rice
straw to feed his cows. In a recent
season, though, he complained that
he lost 90% of his grain to rice bugs,
whose odor discouraged the cows
from eating the leaves and straw.
Sotheary points out that straw
alone offers incomplete nutrition for
cattle. Cambodian farmers rarely add
dietary supplements, though recently
some have started treating the straw
with urea. Pigs fare somewhat better
on a diet that is about half rice bran.
“Rice bran is in itself a reasonable
feed for pigs,” she says. “In fact,
raising pigs can be viewed as a
means of adding value to rice bran.”
Farmers buy the bran from rice
millers, who collect it as the milling
SHARING RICE
for peace and prosperity in the
Greater Mekong Subregion
A book by Peter Fredenburg and Bob Hill
T
he Mekong is a river of contrast and
transition. Springing clear and icy from the
rugged plateau of Tibet, it is most familiar
worldwide as a maze of muddy channels threading
across the flat, steamy delta of southern Vietnam.
In a journey of more than 4,000 kilometers,
the river traverses the southwestern Chinese
province of Yunnan, slips along the easternmost
tip of Myanmar, and drains almost all of Laos,
Cambodia, and northeastern Thailand.
Unlike many of the world’s major rivers, the
Mekong has never been a unifier. In 1866-68, the
French explorers Doudart de Lagrée and Francis
Garnier journeyed from colonial Saigon up the
“great river,” as it was called in Vietnamese and
Khmer, to demonstrate that it was a “river road”
to China. They were wrong. Broken by rapids
above the Khmer town of Kratie, and subject to
extreme variations in seasonal flow, the Mekong to three-quarters of all workers in most areas
has historically divided the peoples who live along of the subregion—accounting, in Cambodia,
its shores and tributaries—a mélange of more Laos, and Myanmar, for more than half of all
than 70 distinct ethnic and linguistic groups. economic activity by value. In the Greater
Astonishingly, the first bridge across the Lower Mekong Subregion, agriculture means, first and
Mekong, the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge near foremost, growing rice , largely at a subsistence
Vientiane, did not open until April 1994. level. Rice occupies 60% or more of all farmland
Two years earlier, the Asian Development in the poorest areas.
Bank had encouraged Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, That rice and its cultivation are central
Thailand, Vietnam, and Yunnan to join hands to the issues of poverty in the Greater Mekong
in a program of economic cooperation called Subregion holds true from all key perspectives:
the Greater Mekong Subregion. The concept livelihood, nutrition, health, protecting the
has facilitated infrastructure development environment and biological diversity, and
and fostered international recognition of promoting equal opportunity. Rice is therefore
a new growth area, the indispensable
with the river serving Greater Mekong Subregion entry point by which
as a symbol of this agricultural scientists
newborn spirit of and extensionists can
c o o p e ra t io n . T he work with farmers to
subregion’s 2.3 million ������������
improve their lives
square kilometers are ����� and those of the poor
home to a combined urban residents who
population of 250 ������� ������� depend upon them for
million, a total nearly affordable supplies of
equal to that of the
���
��� their daily rice.
United States. Sharing Rice—
With the arrival
��������
which offers snapshots
of durable peace in the of rice research
1990s, Greater Mekong collaboration between
living standards have ��������
the International Rice
improved. Yet per Research Institute and
capita gross domestic its local partners—
product in most of is dedicated “to
the region hovers the millions of rice
at the poverty line Boundaries are not farmers in the Greater
of a dollar a day. necessarily authoritative Mekong Subregion who
Persistent poverty continue to strive for
drives unsustainable agricultural practices that better lives for their families and to help feed a
erode the public health and natural resources hungry world.”
upon which hope for a better future depends.
Rice pervades the Greater Mekong not just Adapted from the introduction of Sharing Rice, published
at mealtime. Agriculture employs two-thirds in 2006 by Sid Harta Publishers.
Rice Today April-June 2006 31
fee. “The quantity, quality, and
cost of rice bran available at local
mills are the major determinants of
the number of pigs that are raised
in a village, how well they grow,
and how profitable the activity
is,” Sotheary explains. She adds
that taking bran as payment is
a disincentive for Cambodian
millers to improve the quality of
their milling, from a rice-recovery
rate that averages a dismal 57%.
Cattle and buffalo contribute
somewhat more than a quarter of the
12.4 kilograms of meat annually eaten
per capita in Cambodia. Farmers
themselves consume relatively
few livestock products, except, on
special occasions, chicken (which
they raise as free-range scavengers
with perhaps a scattering of white
rice, paddy, or kitchen waste) and,
even more occasionally, chicken
eggs. “Cattle, buffalo, and pigs
are sold to slaughterhouses, but
their meat is rarely purchased by
the farmers,” Sotheary reports.
“However, animals that die in
an accident or from disease are
commonly consumed by villagers.”
A survey conducted by IRRI in
the mid-1990s found that animal
raising brings in 29% of the total
income, including off-farm activities,
of Cambodian farm households and
fully three-quarters of their income
from agricultural activities (80%
for farm households considered
poor). “At times, livestock may be the
only way farmers can benefit from
BUFFALO, seen here in Vietnam's Bac Kan
Province, have risen in number in Cambodia
and northern Vietnam, where they continue to
be important sources of draft power and meat.
Across most of the Greater Mekong Subregion,
however, their numbers have declined as land
preparation for rice has become increasingly
mechanized.
32
community
resources, such
as grazing lands
or forests,”
comments
Sotheary.
Because LE THANH DANG (right) shows
cattle and buffalo Dr. Can one of his pigs. Dang
provide 90% has raised pigs for two decades,
started raising cattle half a
of draft power decade ago, and continues to
in Cambodia, grow just enough rice to feed
and because his family of five.
the country is
still recovering
from war, it is the only one in the
Greater Mekong Subregion to see
a nationwide rise in the number
of buffalo in recent years. Buffalo
numbers also rose in the northern
mountains of Vietnam, where buffalo
production—accounting for 60% of
the national total—provides both
draft power and meat. However,
like Thailand, Vietnam as a whole
has seen a significant decline in the
number of buffalo and draft cattle
as land preparation for rice has
become increasingly mechanized.
Raising large ruminants has
never been widespread in the Mekong manure pit into a large polyurethane
Delta of southern Vietnam, except
among ethnic Khmer, many of whom
cluster along the Cambodian border
and engage in cross-border livestock
trade. Few mainstream Vietnamese
farmers in the delta even use manure
to fertilize their rice fields. Cao Van
Phuc, a diversified rice farmer in
Chau Thanh A District of Cantho
Province who recently acquired
Rice Today April-June 2006
14 head of cattle, prefers to use
chemical fertilizers in his paddies.
“Not many better-off farmers like
him apply manure to rice,” explains
Nguyen Duy Can, deputy head of the
Sustainable Resources Management
Department of Cantho University’s
Mekong Delta Farming Systems
Research and Development Institute.
“Farmers here aren’t familiar
with its use on rice. And handling
manure is difficult, time-consuming,
labor-intensive, and smelly.”
Phuc finds plenty of other uses
for the stuff. Biogas piped from the
bag hanging from the roof of a shed
provides all the cooking gas his family
needs. He cultures earthworms in
manure to feed to his catfish and
sells manure to neighbors who do
the same. And he uses manure to
fertilize his durian and pomelo trees.
Dr. Can views farmers’ reluctance
to fertilize paddy with manure as a
weakness in the system. “The greater
the interactions
between various
components of
the system, the
more sustainable
the system
is,” he points
out, calling for
further work on
how farmers can
most efficiently
make and
use compost.
He adds that
widespread
overuse of
pesticides on
rice limits
the straw’s use as livestock feed,
especially for dairy cows.
Le Thanh Dang, of Hau Nghia
village in Duc Hoa District of Long
An Province, just 25 kilometers or so
from downtown Ho Chi Minh City,
is another better-off farmer who is
milking the growing Vietnamese
market for dairy products—some 90%
of which is met with imports (mostly
milk powder). A pig and rice farmer
for more than 20 years, Dang started
raising dairy cows 5 years ago and
now has 10 head. He makes a good
living selling milk and female calves,
which are worth 10 times as much
as their male siblings. He devotes
most of his meager half-hectare
plot to growing grass for the cattle,
reserving only 0.15 hectares, which
he says is “not suitable for growing
grass,” for a crop of groundnuts
and two crops of rice that add up
to 1.2-plus tons of grain, or just
enough to feed his family of five.
Cau Le Huu, in nearby Xa Tan
My village, has taken advantage
of low-interest credit offered in
recent years by the Vietnamese
government for buying piglets and
beef and dairy cattle. His excellent
relationship with local agricultural
extension staff has also ensured
ample supplies of certified rice
seed, advice on how to profitably
grow high-quality seed for sale to
neighboring farmers, help in choosing
cattle breeds, and timely veterinary
services to keep his herd healthy.
Successful enough to have
appeared on local television as a
model farmer, Huu feeds his eight
cattle and five pigs rice straw and
stems of groundnut and maize from
his own crops, supplementing the
feed with waste cassava he buys
from others. He fertilizes his crops
with both manure and chemicals,
calculating that manure saves him
more than $65 per crop per hectare
and believing that it is better for his
land than relying solely on chemical
fertilizer. He recently replaced his
wooden cattle stalls with concrete
ones and is looking to buy more land.
Most mixed farmers are not so
fortunate in enjoying strong support
from agricultural extensionists and
ready access to
markets. Women
in particular
are underserved
despite the
demands placed
on them. A
1999 survey of
three villages in
Cantho Province
found that
women provide
95% of the
labor in animal
raising, but only
a third of them
have special
knowledge of VIETNAMESE rice farmer Cao Van
animal care Phuc and his wife stand beneath
or diseases. a polyurethane bag used to store
manure-generated biogas, which
The situation provides enough cooking fuel for
is similar in Phuc's entire family.
Cambodia.
Other
common constraints to small-scale
integration of animals and crops
are farmers’ poverty and lack of sustainability, and they’re gathering a
credit, the variable quality and lot of support. Some say that, within
high prices for improved animal 10 years, such farmers will be a
breeds, spotty availability of million strong. If they achieve that
affordable feed, and markets that number, it will represent 20% of the
offer unstable prices and a lack of farmers in northeastern Thailand.
processing for animal products. It remains to be seen whether
IRRI researcher Dr. Sombilla 20% is a critical mass, capable of
points out that, despite the global bringing about a general change in
trend toward specialized agriculture, farming systems and lifestyles.”
as recently as 1995, the Food and Yet, few agricultural
Agriculture Organization of the scientists believe that updating
United Nations reported that half traditional practices appropriate
of all farm animals and their by- for smallholdings will fully meet
products came from integrated the needs of urban consumers
crop-animal systems. And increasingly able to afford
smallholders still constitute the a rich, diversified diet.
bulk of Asian agriculture, even in “Commercial farms should
relatively prosperous Thailand. A be encouraged to fill most of the
factor driving the reemergence of increasing market demand for
integrated crop-animal systems in meat and other animal products,”
northern Thailand, in addition to urges Dr. Can. “At the same time,
rising demand, is a lifestyle trend that however, integrated crop-animal
emphasizes back-to-basics organic systems should be developed
agriculture and self-sufficiency. further as an effective way of
“Farmers are changing their lives sustaining food production
to stop unnecessary expenditure,” among small farm households and
says Dr. Suchint. “They’re buying improving rural living standards.
livestock to provide fertilizer for
their crops, and they’re using home- Adapted from Sharing Rice, published by Sid
made gadgetry as working tools. Harta Publishers. See www.sidharta.com for
They believe in self-sufficiency and purchasing information.
Rice Today April-June 2006 33

MATTHIAS WISSUWA
Opposites attract ...
attention
Researchers zero in on two genes
at opposite ends of the rice genome
that provide tolerance for a dreaded
duo of widespread stresses, high
salinity and phosphorus deficiency
34
TRADITIONAL rice varieties,
like the one grown by this
farmer in the Hindu Kush, may
harbor useful genes for mak-
ing hardier modern rice variet-
ies that achieve higher yields
under stressed conditions.
by Peter Fredenburg
C
rop breeders have enjoyed remarkable success
in breeding plant varieties that resist pests
and diseases. As resistance is typically a
qualitative trait—meaning that it arises from
the effect of just one or a few genes—it is
a much more straightforward breeding target than
tolerance of such abiotic stresses as drought, salinity,
acidity, aluminum toxicity, nutrient deficiency,
extreme temperature, or submergence. Abiotic stress
tolerance is almost always a quantitative trait, arising
through the combined effects of several genes.
Yet, a few genes exist that, like resistance genes,
individually confer a degree of abiotic stress tolerance,
cracking open the door for researchers to breed these
traits into popular cultivars. A collaboration led by the
Rice Today April-June 2006
 International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI) as part of the Generation
Challenge Program—an initiative
to use molecular biology to help
boost agricultural production and,
consequently, the quality of life
in developing countries—is well
along the way toward success with
Saltol, a gene on rice chromosome
1 that confers salinity tolerance,
and Pup1, a gene on chromosome 12
that improves the plant’s uptake of
the essential nutrient phosphorus.
Although the two genes govern
altogether different processes and
occupy opposite ends of the rice
genome (the sum total of the rice
plant’s genetic information, encoded
in its DNA), they are closely linked
in the fields where rice farmers
struggle to make a living.
“Both salinity and phosphorus
deficiency are widespread and often
coexist, especially in the rainfed fields
of the poorest farmers,” explains
Abdelbagi Ismail, the principal
investigator of the project, whose
avowed aim is to revitalize marginal
rice lands. “Globally, more than 15
million hectares of rice lands are
saline, and more than half of all
rice lands are phosphorus-deficient.
From the research perspective, we
ABDELBAGI ISMAIL (holding rice)
describes to IRRI visitors how he screens
rice plants for salinity tolerance.
LAURO ATIENZA
have a good understanding of the
biology of tolerance of both stresses.
And we are in the last stages of
fine-mapping the location of the
genes, both of which have clear-cut
effects. We expect to have clones of
both genes within a year or two.”
Ismail explains that rice is
particularly sensitive to salt stress
during its seedling and reproductive
stages. Saltol confers tolerance at the
seedling stage, which is important
for good crop establishment in
coastal areas, where river water is
brackish early in the growing season
before seasonal rains weigh in.
“It’s always safer to have salt-
tolerant varieties in coastal areas,”
Ismail adds. “The Indian Ocean
tsunami shocked us with its terrible
destruction and loss of life. But the
kind of damage that the tsunami
caused to croplands is more routine
than people realize. Saline flooding
from relatively small storms
destroys crops in the Indian state
of Orissa every 2 or 3 years, most
recently in September 2005. But
such events rarely make the news.”
The project’s main aims are to
isolate and clone Saltol and Pup1,
validate their respective roles in salt
tolerance and phosphorus uptake,
Rice Today April-June 2006
facilitate their use in crop-breeding
programs, and train national
scientists in relevant molecular gene-
discovery and breeding techniques.
The IRRI team mapped the
location of Saltol by crossing Pokkali,
a traditional cultivar from India that
exhibits moderate salt tolerance, with
the saline-sensitive variety IR29.
Growing a population of eighth-
generation inbred descendants with
and without salt, the team was able to
map the location of Saltol on the rice
genome. Fine-mapping of the Saltol
locus continues, using descendants
of the hybridization that are almost
genetically identical but differ by
the presence or absence of Saltol.
The project’s many participants,
along with IRRI, include the
University of California (Davis
and Riverside), Australia’s
Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Research Organization,
Dhaka University in Bangladesh, the
Indonesian Center for Agricultural
Biotechnology and Genetic Resources
and Research Development, Japan’s
National Institute of Agrobiological
Sciences (NIAS), Iran’s Agricultural
Biotechnology Research Institute,
and the Japan International Research
Center for Agricultural Sciences—
35

MATTHIAS WISSUWA (2)
where co-principal investigator
Matthias Wissuwa, who left IRRI in
2005, continues his work on Pup1.
In fact, Pup1 has been following
Wissuwa around for years. Having
started the project as a European
Union science and technology fellow
at NIAS in 1999, Wissuwa continued
working on it when he arrived
at IRRI in the Philippines as an
international research fellow in 2002.
“It’s good to be able to change
jobs and keep working on the same
thing,” Wissuwa says. “What’s
exciting about Pup1 is that it really
does something positive in the
field. We observed that plants with
Pup1 extract up to three times
as much naturally occurring soil
phosphorus. These plants can
therefore fill a large portion of their
phosphorus requirement without
phosphorus fertilizers. This benefits
the poorest rice farmers, who can’t
afford to buy enough fertilizer.
“And Pup1 is one of the
few cases where we’re close to
isolating the gene and have a clear
picture of its phenotypic effects,”
Wissuwa adds. “Usually you have
one or the other, not both.”
As some traditional rice cultivars
take up 20 times more phosphorus
than other varieties, the project’s
mapping population descended from
a cross of the tolerant traditional
variety Kasalath with Nipponbare.
Pup1 is clearly associated with
vigorous root growth, but the cause-
and-effect question remains: Does
strong phosphorus uptake spur root
growth, or the other way around?
Either way, phosphorus
uptake is closely linked to drought
tolerance. As Wissuwa points out,
a plant lacking phosphorus cannot
36
grow long roots, but one with Pup1
can. He is nevertheless careful not
to oversell the gene he has been
working for years to isolate.
“In an experimental background,
Pup1 triples the grain yield and
dry weight,” he says, referring to a
standard measure of plant bulk. “But
of course we test with susceptible
varieties. We don’t know how much
Pup1 will improve normal rice
cultivars because we don’t know if
they already have it. If they don’t, it
should double their grain yield on
severely phosphorus-deficient soils.
“In any case, phosphorus uptake
is an important trait for rainfed
fields and uplands,” he continues.
“The risk of phosphorus deficiency is
higher there than in irrigated fields,
and those farmers can rarely afford
fertilizer. Another thing makes this
research worthwhile — when you
actually have the gene, you can use it
in a very targeted way. You can even
put it, for example, into maize.”
After cloning, breeding a new
gene into popular rice cultivars takes
2 years, with another year required
to multiply enough seed to deliver
Nipponbare NIL-C443
Rice Today April-June 2006
IN PHOSPHORUS-DEFICIENT soil, the modern
variety Nipponbare (center) fares poorly
alongside the tall traditional variety Kasalath,
the Pup1 donor, and (right) an experimental
line that received Pup1 and is otherwise al-
most identical to Nipponbare. By transferring
Pup1 using the modern technique of marker-
assisted selection, the researchers avoided
carrying over unwanted genes that could have
compromised Nipponbare attributes such as
good grain quality. The corresponding grains
from these varieties can be seen below.
the improved variety to farmers.
Molecular breeding develops the
product 4–6 years more quickly
than conventional breeding, as well
as providing greater understanding
of the gene and, as Wissuwa points
out, more options for its use. Finally,
the clean and precise insertion of
a single trait like those conferred
by Saltol and Pup1 saves additional
time following delivery of the new
variety to national programs.
“Adding only one trait to
a familiar and popular variety
accelerates its spread and adoption,”
Ismail explains. “In some cases, you
may not need to go through the full
release process, which normally
takes an additional 3 years after
delivery to national programs and
multiplication of seed. When farm
families are going hungry, or children
can’t go to school because their
parents can’t pay the fees, any time
saved can make all the difference
in the world to those individuals.”
Adapted from Research Highlights 2005,
published by the Generation Challenge
Program (www.generationcp.org).
Kasalath
 RICE FACTS
Drought perpetuates
poverty
by SUSHIL PANDEY AND HUMNATH BHANDARI
D
rought is a major constraint to
rice production in Asia, where
at least 20% of the total rice
area is drought prone. When rice is
grown under rainfed conditions, both
the area sown and the yield depend
mainly on the available rainfall; any
shortage in rains translates directly
into production losses. Although most
other natural disasters, such as floods
and cyclones, result in visible and im-
mediate loss of life and infrastructure,
the effects of drought are creeping and
long-lasting. It cripples the livelihoods
of a large number of people, often
trapping them in perpetual poverty.
Even without the extremes of starva-
tion and death, drought is a major
economic and social burden that slows
economic growth and makes escape
from poverty enormously difficult.
A powerful example of drought’s
impact on rice production is seen
in the zigzag trend in rice yields in
Orissa, one of the major drought-
prone states of eastern India (Figure
1). Almost every upward movement in
rice yields is followed by major down-
swings, most of which are caused by
drought. Orissa experiences drought
once every three or four years and
often in consecutive years. It is the
severity and frequency of drought that
Rice yield (tons/hectare)
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990
Years
Figure 1. Trends in rice yield and major drought years,
eastern India (Orissa), 1970-2003.
largely account for the slow growth
in rice production in Orissa over time,
and similar patterns are seen in other
drought-prone areas in eastern India.
Drought results in production
loss not only of rice and other crops
grown with rice, but also of subse-
quent nonrice crops that require
the rice fields’ residual soil mois-
ture. The value of production loss
resulting from drought is indeed
very large. In three states of eastern
India—Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and
Orissa—where rainfed rice is grown
widely, the average production loss of
rice during drought years is estimated
to be 5.4 million tons—over 30% of
the annual production in nondrought
years (see Dreams beyond drought
on pages 14-21 of Rice Today Vol. 4
No. 2). In severe drought years, the
loss can rise to as high as 40–50%
of normal production. When pro-
duction losses of rice and nonrice
crops are considered together with
the costs farmers bear by adjust-
ing their production system to try to
cope with drought, the total annual
economic loss in these three states
alone is close to US$400 million.
And, as opportunities for farm
employment dry up in the face of
drought, so too do the incomes of
farm laborers who rely on rice
production for their wages. It
is estimated that in Chhattis-
garh, Jharkhand, and Orissa,
almost 13 million people who
sit perilously just above the
poverty line fall back below it
due to drought-induced income
loss. Others already below the
poverty line in nondrought
years are pushed further down.
Figure 2 illustrates this ef-
Drought year
fect in Jharkhand. If drought
occurs in consecutive years,
1995 2000
the situation is even worse.
As farmers go into debt and
liquidate their productive as-
sets—such as bullocks, farm
Rice Today April-June 2006
Per capita annual income in rupees
(44 rupees = US$1)
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
Poverty line
50% of
2,000
poverty line
0
Normal year Drought year
Figure 2. Effect of drought on poverty in eastern
India (Jharkhand). Each point represents one per-
son; the arrows show where individuals sit relative
to the poverty line in a drought year compared with
a nondrought year.
implements, and even land—they
are trapped even deeper within
a poverty from which escape be-
comes more and more difficult.
How can farmers avoid drought’s
worst effects? Improved technologies,
such as drought-tolerant rice varieties,
are important for reducing the grind-
ing economic burden of drought. Such
varieties are being developed, along
with crop management options that
improve plant recovery from drought
and more efficiently use available
water resources. Substantial scientific
progress has been made on this front
(see Drought – what is IRRI doing?
on page 20 of Rice Today Vol. 4 No. 2).
However, investment in agricultural
research in almost every rice-grow-
ing country in Asia is too low given
the benefits in poverty reduction that
can be realized. Increased research
investment, together with policy
reforms that help raise and stabilize
farm incomes, can substantially boost
the prospects of eliminating the worst
effects of this scourge of nature.
Sushil Pandey is deputy head, IRRI Social Sciences
Division. Humnath Bhandari is a postdoctoral
fellow at the Japan International Research
Center for Agricultural Sciences. This article is
based on a report by the authors prepared in
collaboration with D Naik (Orissa University of
Agriculture and Technology), R Sharan (Ranchi
University), and SK Taunk and ASRAS Sastri
(Indira Gandhi Agriculture University).
37
 grain of truth
Work needed
to weed out
DAVID JOHNSON
farmers’ problems

S
ince land was first cultivated to create a favorable environment farming practices. Repeated use of a single set of crop and weed
for crops, other less desirable plants have exploited the same management components will commonly result in the “deflection”
land more effectively. Control of weeds has been described of the weed composition to a single weed species. Further, in some
as humanity’s biggest single occupation, and while herbicides have rice growing areas weeds have evolved resistance to regularly
greatly reduced the effort needed to control weeds in some farming used herbicides, making them increasingly difficult to manage.
systems, in others, controlling them requires more labor than any To counter such problems, we need long-term weed management
other facet of crop production up to harvest. Weed control can also strategies that aim to prevent the buildup of problem weeds and
account for a significant portion of crop costs. to make the most of opportunities for cultural control.
Many lowland rice systems—ranging from highly developed In this light, knowledge of how the weed species react to
irrigated systems to hillside terraces—integrate several “cultural” different management practices over several seasons can be
weed control elements into crop management. Floodwater, on used to predict changes and avoid problems. Any change—such
puddled fields, to suppress weed growth as a move from transplanting to direct
is the most widespread. Another, the seeding or from f looded to dr yland
transplanting of rice seedlings, gives conditions—will tend to favor a new set
the seedlings a size advantage over Farmers need knowledge- of weeds, while species that thrived in
any germinating weeds and allows the previous conditions may decline in
farmers to maintain floodwater and avoid based crop and dominance. By anticipating changes in
draining the field, which stimulates weed weed composition, farmers can alter their
germination. A third approach, thorough crop management in response to emerging
land preparation, involves repeated
water management problems and implement more effective
cultivation, which kills existing weeds and weed management strategies. Further, by
depletes the soil’s “seed bank.” options to form the rotating through a series of management
In many areas, however, water and practices, farmers can limit the chance of
labor shortages are forcing farmers into cornerstones of future species becoming dominant.
new approaches. Direct seeding of rice, Crop management rotations have not
for example, requires less labor than yet played a role in many of the modern
transplanting and water shortages lead
weed control strategies rice systems, but these may have a greater
to reduced periods of flooding. Further, role in the future. Changing the timing
reduced tillage systems allow farmers to and depth of flooding, altering soil tillage
save energy costs, which have risen steeply in recent years. and crop establishment practices, direct seeding rather than
Any one field may be home to dozens of plant species other transplanting, alternating rice with other crops, and varying
than the crop itself, though only a few of these are likely to be herbicides are examples of management practices that can affect
important weeds. Prevailing growing conditions will usually the composition of weeds and prevent the build-up of individual
favor a small number of weeds, which may consequently cause species.
serious problems. If a farmer changes the field conditions—by Agronomists must better exploit knowledge of how different
direct seeding or reducing flooding, for example—other species weeds respond to varying ways of managing a crop. Farmers need
may become dominant. The composition of a field’s weeds and soil knowledge-based crop and water management rotations that can
seed bank reflect current and past crop management and farmers, form the cornerstones of future weed control strategies. Weed
particularly in traditional farming systems, often use certain management is an age-old problem but it remains as relevant
species as indicators of the system’s overall health. and challenging today as ever, and it is one that we ignore at
In the modern systems of intensive rice cultivation and our peril.
repetitive crop management, there may only be a very limited
number of species occurring—often annual grasses that have David Johnson is a senior weed scientist in IRRI’s Crop, Soil, and Water
similar growth habits to rice and are able to thrive under existing Sciences Division.

38 Rice Today April-June 2006

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40 Rice Today April-June 2006